SOUTH WEST TRAINS

That this House believes that the decision by South West Trains to replace the Wessex Electric trains with 450s on the Portsmouth mainline route to Waterloo was a cynical move to increase profits at the expense of customer comfort; notes that Stagecoach has made little effort to remedy the situation and to accept that 450s are unacceptable on long journeys; believes that their attitude to passenger comfort, their aggressive policy on penalty fares, and the increases in off-peak fares further show that there must be a long-term solution to the problems on Britain's railways that puts passengers first and not the profits of franchisees; and urges the Government to take action to bring the whole of the rail network back into public ownership.