At South Western Railway we know that you want a safe, reliable, punctual service. We’re committed to providing this, to help deliver the best service we can.
We continually measure our service reliability and punctuality and report on how we are performing against targets which are set in our Passenger’s Charter.
All our services are monitored every day, including Sundays and Bank Holidays and we have a range of performance activities taking place to improve our network. Here are a few things we are doing this year:
- Continuing to rollout the Arterio trains to replace the suburban fleet.
- £129m investment in the re-signalling from Farncombe to Petersfield, including the renewal of nine level crossings.
- Queenstown Road Track Renewal to remove multiple reoccurring faults in the area.
Want to know more about what we're doing to improve performance?
Download our Joint Performance Strategy with Network Rail, delivering a high performing railway, together.
Headline Performance data — Period 5 (20 July - 16 August 2025)
Percentage of total services cancelled
For a more detailed breakdown of performance please click here.
Performance update - periods 3 to 5
The last three periods have been very challenging and performance across our network was not what we, or our customers, rightly expected. Punctuality was affected by disruption from infrastructure failures, train reliability, extremely dry and hot weather conditions, and trespass and fatality incidents.
In period 3 we experienced signalling problems in the Southampton area, a fatality at Surbiton and a significant trespass incident at Clapham Junction. We also dealt with problems affecting our Class 450 and Class 455 trains.
In period 4 we were affected by a major signalling failure at London Waterloo, a cable failure at Wimbledon and a signalling system failure at Staines. The unusually hot weather impacted our train fleet, as well as other infrastructure.
In period 5 we continued to feel the effects of the major signalling failure at London Waterloo, while the driest spring and summer conditions ever resulted in speed restrictions and a reduced timetable for the West of England line. We were also affected by a fatality at Wimbledon.
What we’re doing about it
Together, as an integrated railway, we are working on a number of measures to improve performance, which include:
Track and signalling
- Using drones to detect cable failures in the London Waterloo area, and conducting trials for targeted on-site inspections, to prevent signalling and track failures respectively
- Commissioning a state-of-the art signalling system between Farncombe and Petersfield in October, which will provide more reliability on one of our busiest long-distance routes
- Installing guards for axle counters, which tell signallers where trains are on our network, at high-risk locations to prevent lineside litter that could affect signalling systems
Use of new technology, fleet and investing in our colleagues
- We’re introducing Arterio, our new fleet of 90 trains that will transform every single journey on our suburban network.
- Investing in improved technologies to provide remote visibility of track conditions, which will help track maintenance teams prioritise tasks
- Upskilling colleagues to help reduce the time it takes to rectify faults
- Using track geometry technology to assess track conditions
- Working on train detection technology for asset failure detection
Trespass and fatality mitigations
- Continuing our engagement with the British Transport Police, the Samaritans, local authorities and other organisations to mitigate trespass and fatalities
- Commencing work on high-risk boundaries and platform ends, following a survey of 203 stations, to help prevent unauthorised access to the railway
- Deploying additional colleagues at key locations, both on trains and at stations, to further prevent unauthorised access to the railway
Hot and dry conditions
- Introducing a reduced timetable on the West of England Line, designed to provide customers with a safe and reliable service
- Closely monitoring soil moisture levels between Salisbury and Exeter St Davids, helping us plan track maintenance that will remove temporary speed restrictions
- Working with train providers to help with door and air conditioning issues that have occurred in hot weather
