SOUTH West Trains has announced that its multi-million pound investment to provide extra space for 23,000 passengers travelling at peak times is now complete.

The £65m investment will see a full fleet of 108 refurbished extra carriages in service on what is one of Europe’s busiest railways.

The improvements are part of the Government’s High Level Output Specification Programme, and are the biggest made to the network in decades.

For Hook and Winchfield, the morning services to London Waterloo to benefit from the improvements will be the 06.42 train from Basingstoke.

For the evening rush-hour, the 17.23, 18.39 and 18.41 trains from London Waterloo to Basingstoke will benefit from the updated services leaving the capital at peak times.

In addition to the 1,449 carriages in service today, a further 150 new carriages will start to be introduced in 2017, providing even more space for the half a million passenger journeys on the network every day.

Rail minister Claire Perry said: “We are investing £40bn in our nation’s railway infrastructure – the biggest upgrade since the Victorian times. The introduction of these 108 modified train carriages on to the South West Trains network is providing a significant increase to peak time capacity into the capital and beyond.

“From 2017, as part of an £800m investment in the route, passengers will benefit from a bigger and better London Waterloo station and a further 150 new train carriages, providing even more space for passengers arriving there over the morning rush hour.”