Plans to prevent Walton on Thames commuter disruption in the future

South West Trains and Network Rail have announced a package of measures to improve their joint response to disruption on the rail network after cable thefts hit commuters travelling through Walton on Thames earlier this summer.

The cable theft incident between Farnborough, Hampshire, and Woking, Surrey, in June resulted in severe disruption for around 80,000 rail passengers. South West Trains announced an enhanced compensation package for customers immediately after the incident.

New measures announced include investing in better information at stations and online, new technology, additional management resources, extra training, plus improved contingency and on-call arrangements.

A number of improvements are targeted at the Wessex Integrated Control Centre at London Waterloo, which co-ordinates the operational response to incidents under the leadership of Network Rail. The centre has a joint Network Rail-South West Trains operations team.

South West Trains Managing Director Andy Pitt said: "The criminal cable theft incident near Woking resulted in a huge human cost to our passengers. Both South West Trains and Network Rail should have managed the subsequent disruption better. We are sorry we let people down.

"Most importantly, our customers want to be reassured that we have learned lessons and are jointly taking steps to improve our response to future incidents. We have carried out an open and honest review. This is a serious package of measures that involves significant investment in supporting our people, improving our contingency plans and using technology to communicate better with our customers.

"We run one of the busiest and most complex rail networks in Europe. A major incident can be the railway equivalent of part of the M25 being shut for several hours, with the same inevitable congestion and knock-on delays.

"The priority in these circumstances is to restore services as soon as is reasonably possible, keep passengers updated and give them useful information about their travel options. We believe the steps we are taking mean we are better placed to make that happen."