South West Trains’ announcement of its plans to lengthen some of its rush hour services on routes from Windsor, Hounslow and Weybridge to and from Waterloo has been welcomed by Jane Ellison, MP for Battersea, Balham and Wandsworth.

These services stop at Putney, Wandsworth Town, Clapham Junction and Queenstown Road Stations and are used every weekday by tens of thousands of local residents. These trains - which suffer from some of the worst overcrowding in London - will be lengthened from eight to ten carriages from May 2013.  South West Trains' fleet is being expanded with 60 refurbished carriages thanks to Government funding for leasing the vehicles. The carriages – which will allow around 8,000 extra peak-time passengers into Waterloo every morning -will begin coming to service in May 2013. In addition, extra services will be introduced.

Ms Ellison said "I know that the Secretary of State for Transport, as a local MP, knows only too well the difficult conditions in which passengers have had to travel on peak-time services. The increase in carriages and number of trains will make a huge difference to passengers travelling into Waterloo."

In addition, the Government is providing over £80 million towards a deal led by Southern Railways to build 130 new railway carriages. The company operates key local routes including the overcrowded service to Victoria via Balham, Wandsworth Common, Clapham Junction and Battersea Park. Southern Railways has now confirmed that it is ordering 130 new carriages for rush hour services meaning thousands more Wandsworth residents can now look forward to a more comfortable journey to work from December 2013. These carriages are to be built by Derby-based trainmaker Bombardier.