RAIL staff on the Alton to Waterloo line are said to be bracing themselves for a possible passenger mutiny.

According to Alton Line Users' Association chairman Chris Campbell, commuters angered by delays are threatening to stage hostile sit-ins on trains which stop short of their destination.

The impending action looks set to demonstrate growing discontent over SWT's reported continuing failure to run trains on time and terminating them without completing the journey.

But South West Trains (SWT) says it is often "a necessary last resort" when taking into account the wider picture.

Stressing that "this is just not good enough", Chris Campbell points out that some journeys from Waterloo to Alton have been taking as long as three to four hours following delays not only on departure, but further down the line, with passengers being disembarked short of destination and forced to wait for another train or to take alternative transport home.

With the 20-year franchise having been awarded to Stagecoach/South West Trains just two weeks ago passengers, he believes, are beginning to fear the worst.

"GNER promised in its failed bid that all trains scheduled to do so would run to the end of the line, whatever the cost - we want to know why SWT can't do the same."

Mr Campbell pointed out that trains bound for Alton were currently being terminated as far out as Woking to make up for time lost by earlier delays.

"It seems to me that once anything goes wrong on the main line nothing runs to destination," said the Alton man who was expecting to head an ALUA delegation this week to quiz SWT about the situation and insist that it be improved.

According to ALUA the last six months have been particularly bad with many passengers believing that SWT should pay compensation for the hours lost and inconvenience caused.

Local commuter Christopher Gardner wrote to The Herald recently to say that he had received compensation from SWT for poor service between October and November but had failed to notice any improvement in performance since then.

"There have been far too many occasions when the train has been shorter than it should have been, or the heating has not been working. Notices at Waterloo showing SWT's performance against punctuality and reliability targets have been noticeable by their absence in recent months," he said.

Chairman of the Rail Passengers Committee for Southern England, Wendy Toms, has also been reported as giving a reluctant welcome to the Stagecoach/SWT franchise, warning that the decision would not be popular with all passengers - "especially those who have been complaining bitterly recently about late trains and trains that stop short of their destination."

But Stagecoach/SWT is adamant that in the long term it is offering a good deal.

According to SWT spokesperson Lisa Davies, the company would be unlikely to offer a similar guarantee to GNER because it would be unworkable.

"We run around 1,700 trains a day and not just on the Waterloo to Alton line. When things go wrong we have to look at the wider picture and sometimes it is necessary to bite the bullet and terminate trains short of destination in order to fit in with the overall timetable," she said.

If this didn't happen one minor disruption could put the whole timetable out for days, she explained.

While apologising to passengers on the receiving end of any delays, Ms Davies explained that running a train timetable was like running an airline. Train companies hire slots, or 'pathways', from Railtrack. These pathways are finite and in order to extend passenger capacity the only way forward is to extend platforms in order to run longer trains and to increase investment in new rolling stock.

Both are strategies which form a key part of the new franchise agreement, Stagecoach/SWT having made a £1.7 billion commitment to investment in trains and infrastructure, a package which is to include 800 new vehicles.

Although these improvements are not going to happen overnight, the investment alone "should help to cut down on having to terminate trains short of destination", said Ms Davies.