Mark Hopwood on keeping South Western Railway passenger improvements on track

When Mark Hopwood took on the role of Managing Director at South Western Railway in January, he expected to have a challenge on his hands.

Infrastructure reliability, timetabling delays and industrial action were among the challenges facing the franchise and threatening its long term sustainability.

However, little did he know that added to this would be the Coronavirus crisis, with timetables needed to be redrawn virtually overnight and staff working all hours to keep key workers moving and staff and passengers safe.

Entering his fifth month in the role, Mark has spoken with railbusinessdaily.com, about his pride in the workforce and his confidence of the progress that has already been made.

“I am optimistic as there are a lot of capable people here,” he said.

“We’re working hard to produce a timetable that works and that is effective. Along with that there has been no industrial action over the role of train guards since I arrived. Although the issue hasn’t yet been resolved, hard work is going on to do just that.

“Overall though I have to recognise that there was a breakdown of trust between the company and passengers. People are very sceptical about anything I say, or the company says. What they are looking for are results and I believe they will start to see these as services return to normal.”

The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic

Like every train operating company, South Western Railway had to act, and act quickly when the Coronavirus pandemic struck the UK.

The organisation provides a vital link for many key workers, particularly those working in the emergency services, who rely on the service to get to work.

Mark said: “As you’d expect in the current environment, Coronavirus is dominating what we’re doing. Our staff have been doing a tremendous job in keeping train services moving and moving punctually.

“Passengers numbers are down, but a lot of our trains during peak hours are still arriving with 80-90 people on board. There are often three or four trains arriving simultaneously at London Waterloo Station so it is still busy. I’m very proud of the staff on the frontline, the maintenance teams, the cleaning teams and their commitment to supporting those key workers.

“These have been testing times but the planners have done a great job, and very quickly, in creating a timetable we have been able to run, and run punctually. This is something we’ve kept changing and adapting to suit the requirements of key workers.

“With this being a worldwide pandemic, we have held several talks with MTR (who together with First Group run the South Western franchise) about their experiences in Hong Kong, China, Australia and Sweden. We’ve looked at everything from their signage, and staff briefings to the chemicals they use in cleaning. We’ve also got links with Avanti West Coast that is part owned by the Italian railways, so we are also looking at what they are doing.

“Overall the punctuality of the railway has been excellent – 97% plus pretty much every day. Clearly this is easier with fewer passengers, but when we start to run more trains, we need to think about protecting that performance and how we manage that.

“We need to work with the Government and make sure that when the restrictions are eased, that this is compatible with what we can achieve. Longer term it is probably going to mean changes to peoples’ travel patterns. We’ve got to make sure we are ready for that.”

The challenge to improve performance post Coronavirus

When Mark arrived at South Western Railway in January, he vowed to make 2020 a better year for passengers, setting out five key commitments to passengers.

This included increasing the number of trains running on time, new and refurbished trains and being more approachable and accountable as an organisation.

Little over a month in and improvements were already starting to be seen, with an increase in punctuality, the removal of several temporary speed restriction, improvements to signalling at Waterloo and the recruiting of more guards and drivers.

But have the challenges with Coronavirus knocked that progress off track?

“If you put Coronavirus to the side and think about the tackling of our performance, we are beginning to see improvements coming through, not just in our own operation, but also in Network Rail,” he said.

“We had a very successful piece of engineering work over Easter in Guildford, and that’s led to Network Rail lifting a number of speed restrictions on that route.

“We’re seeing the speed restrictions coming off, a much better approach to managing trespass, a better organised control office environment and so on. The other key thing for me has been the communication with our customers and keeping them informed with what we are doing.

“There are some great people at South Western Railway who know the business and have good knowledge and good experience. One or two problems have needed to be solved at a more strategic level to give these people the right environment, right encouragement and the right leadership to fix these issues. I think we’re beginning to see that in South Western Railway now.”

The future

This is an exciting chapter for South Western Railway and its passengers.

Improvements are being seen. Added to that are the big changes coming in the near future, including a new fleet of Bombardier Class 701 Aventra trains, refurbished Class 442 Wessex Electric trains and the modernisation of the Island Line.

Mark said: “All these projects are moving forward, although clearly there will be some impact from Coronavirus. There is some testing being done on the 701s in Derby. We need to see some restrictions around people being lifted a little to help us get on with things like driver training, but I’m confident we’ll do that.

“We’ve had the 442s running, although they are not running at the moment because we don’t need the capacity. They will be back in service soon. The next stage is the AC conversion. We’re getting rid of the 1960s DC equipment and putting in new AC electrical equipment that will happen this year. This will help the 442s stay in traffic a bit longer and run more reliably.

“The Island Line is progressing quite well. The first of the new Island Line trains are ready and we’re looking to do a possession later on this year to finish off the conversion of the platforms. This will be a very significant transformation for the Isle of Wight, giving them a much better fleet of trains, and the ability to run a half hourly service to link in with the ferry across to Portsmouth Harbour.

“As well as these projects and working in the short term to run the railway, I also need to make sure people in Government understand that this is the part of the network that needs more investment. Ultimately projects like Crossrail 2 are really important. This is a thriving part of the country that drives an enormous amount of economic activity and we really need to support that.

“You still can’t get from South West London or Surrey on a train to Heathrow, even though you can catch a train and watch the planes landing. Things like that are really important in the for the network and to serve it more effectively.

“Great Western has launched a new timetable in December that is relying on infrastructure investment I was working on 12 years ago. That is an example of how important it is that we make those decisions today, as these things can take a long time to come to fruition.”

As for the future of Mark, he is planning to return to Great Western Railway – a role he has held for over 12 years.

“I am keen to carry on the job I’ve been doing at Great Western, as I had worked there for 12 years before this move, but it has been good for me to try my hand here.

“Hopefully I will leave South Western Railway in better shape than I found it and it will be in a good place to crack on with the enhancement schemes in the future.

“Waterloo is the busiest London station. It’s incredible to stand in the station control room at 5.30pm and watch the evening peak. With 24 platforms it is very, very busy and it’s a fascinating railway.

“Everybody just wants that railway to perform well and it’s great to be able to help to move it in that direction.”

Mark Hopwood, Managing Director at South Western Railway, in conversation with railbusinessdaily.com.

Photo credit: South Western Railway

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