Passengers are invited to join a cross section of managers from the South West Trains – Network Rail Alliance for the third passenger forum at the UK’s busiest station, London Waterloo on Tuesday 20 May.

The initiative will give passengers the chance to talk to senior managers face to face. In addition to staff from the Alliance customer service and infrastructure maintenance teams, representatives from Samaritans, Passenger Focus, British Transport Police, London Travel Watch and the Alliance Charity Panel will also be available between 9am to 7pm.

Arthur Pretorius, Customer Service Director for the South West Trains – Network Rail Alliance, said: “This is a great opportunity for us to speak to our passengers face to face and find out what is important to them. Our customers are at the heart of everything we do both internally and externally.

“This is the first passenger forum of the year and it will enable us to get feedback from our customers about our services and how we can improve further. It will also provide an opportunity for our customers to meet some of our partners, such as British Transport Police and Samaritans, and hear about what we are doing to support local charities and communities through our charity panel.

“I would like to personally invite our passengers to come and meet us at any time between 9am and 7pm at our busiest station, London Waterloo, on Tuesday 20 May.”

At the first ever forum in August last year, passengers gave a range of feedback.

Passengers said:

·      What is being done to increase cycle storage at stations?

The Alliance:

Has increased cycle storage provision at Woking, Farnborough, Fleet and Surbiton with further storage planned for later in the year.

Passengers said:
They wanted more waiting room facilities at Clapham station

The Alliance:

Has worked with partners and is opening a new waiting room with heating, information screens and new retail facilities on platforms 13 and 14.

Passengers said:

·      They were frustrated that paper season tickets stopped working and had to be renewed quite frequently.

The Alliance:

Is launching a phased smart ticket later this year.

As part of the forum, for the first time ever, a display from the South West Trains- Network Rail Alliance Charity Panel will be included. The work of the panel’s four chosen charities will be demonstrated at the event with each charity represented throughout the day by volunteers who will be collecting.

More than £15,000 in money and tickets has been donated to a range of local charities over the last 12 months with support offered to Honeypot House in Hampshire, Headway- brain injury charity, Theodora’s Children’s Charity and Small Steps Charity*,  to name a few.

Also paying the Forum a visit will be members of Hampshire’s Canine Partners charity who will be bringing their puppies in training to the station between 1230hrs and 1330hrs. The charity trains dogs to assist people with disabilities to enjoy a greater independence and a better quality of life.  The committee is supporting the group by providing complimentary travel to help with their training.

Chair of the panel, Kat O’Malley said, “This is a great opportunity for us to meet with passengers and tell them about all of the great causes we are supporting. Every year we donate tens of thousands of pounds and tickets to worthwhile charities and community groups. It’s our way of giving something back and we’re looking forward to talking to our passengers about it.”

Passenger Forum events take place every six months at Waterloo station, the next event being on 16 December 2014.