Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to reduce overcrowding on trains from Woking to London Waterloo; and if he will make a statement.

On the 3 September 2014, the Government and Stagecoach South Western Trains (SSWT) announced a £210 million deal for a fleet of new trains to increase capacity on some of the UK’s busiest commuter routes.

The order for 150 new train carriages will provide capacity for 24,000 additional peak-time passengers every day travelling into London Waterloo by May 2018.

These new trains will be deployed on suburban routes and will allow a further cascade of rolling stock enabling SSWT to deliver two new peak mainline services from May 2018; one from Woking and one from Basingstoke.

These carriages are in-addition to the 108 additional carriages secured in 2011/12, which have begun to arrive and are being used to lengthen suburban services trains from 8 to 10-cars.