Train operator South West Trains will be carried out its first ‘Tweet the Manager’ session last week. The session will ran alongside the regular Meet the Manager forum at London Waterloo station and is designed to provide further opportunity for passengers to get fast and direct feedback from managers.

Through its Meet the Manager programme, South West Trains provides a regular opportunity for passengers to provide direct feedback or raise any issues with a selection of senior managers from the company.

This means that for the first time ever, passengers had the choice of either stopping at the station to talk face to face to a member of the team, or tweeting directly to one of South West Trains’ senior management team.

Adam Piddington, Head of Information & Customer Experience for the South West Trains-Network Rail joint alliance, said: “Our Twitter account continues to be enormously popular with passengers, and we’ve gained over 20,000 followers since launching the @SW_Trains feed just a year ago.

“Whilst our passengers may not always have the time to stop and chat, we know they would still like to give feedback and get the answers to questions.  We also know from feedback that people find Twitter an easy way of communicating with us.  By launching the new Tweet the Manager, we will be providing passengers with even more opportunity to let us have their feedback in the most convenient and best way for them.”

This is the latest in a range of measures by South West Trains, one of the UK’s busiest commuter networks, to enhance customer communication.  Other improvements include the roll out of a new state-of-the-art PA system at Waterloo station, development of an enhanced mobile version of the South West Trains’ website which allows passengers to purchase tickets and receive tailored information on their journeys while on the move.  In addition, 850 of South West Trains’ frontline staff have now been issued with smartphones to provide enhanced information to passengers.