FARNHAM councillors have welcomed the awarding of the South West rail franchise to First MTR, and in particular plans to reintroduce a direct service between Farnham and Guildford.

From this August the South West Trains franchise will be operated not by Stagecoach, as it has been for the past 21 years, but by FirstGroup and Hong Kong Metro operator MTR. The agreement is due to run for seven years.

The new operators are promising £1.2 billion-worth of improvements including fully refurbished and more comfortable trains, 22,000 extra seats into London Waterloo each morning peak and 30,000 extra seats each evening peak, plus the prospect of re-opening the Farnham to Guildford line.

Responding, Farnham Central county councillor Pat Frost said: “It is far too early to tell if this will be a good thing for Farnham’s commuters so I will be looking to meet with the franchise operators once they take over to discuss how they can invest in improvements to Farnham station, including my campaign for a second exit to the car park to help ease traffic flow.”

Wyatt Ramsdale, county councillor for Farnham South, added: “I’m very keen to see the Farnham to Guildford line re-opened. Not only would this make what is currently a complicated rail journey simple - it would also reduce peak time traffic on the A31 through Farnham.”

It also emerged this week that First MTR is to abandon a fleet of new trains commissioned by its predecessor, costing £200 million and currently being built in Germany.

The new franchisee is committed to a fleet of 90 new trains to increase capacity on the Reading, Windsor and London routes from this April.

However, it will reject a further 150 Siemens carriages ordered in 2014, which are now destined to sit on sidings indefinitely as they are designed exclusively for use on southern England’s third rail system.

Instead, First MTR is commissioning further new trains to replace them on a cheaper annual lease - a plan made possible by the tumbling interest rates.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “First MTR has committed to deliver 750 new carriages by the end of 2020 which will offer more space and improve journeys for passengers on the Windsor, Reading and London suburban routes.

“It is for First MTR South Western to decide how it uses its trains.”