THE company which runs the commuter rail service between Alton and London Waterloo has seen its profits rocket by 59 per cent.

South West Trains, under its parent company Stagecoach, made a total of £34.4 million in the year ending April 1999 - an increase of 59 per cent.

But this is despite a performance table from rail watchdog the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising giving SWT a lowly C grade for time-keeping and cancellations.

Secretary of the Alton Line Users' Association Chris Campbell said that some of the vast profits made by SWT should go towards improving the line between Alton and Farnham.

But he admitted that the arrival of Stagecoach's new group chief executive Mike Kinski had prompted some improvements in SWT's service.

Mr Campbell told The Herald: "What we want to see is some of that money being ploughed back into the line between the two stations. It is still a single line and it should be a double line.

"We are having a meeting next month with SWT and we would like to see some of the major problems with that line dealt with.

"Since the beginning of the year there has been a terrific improvement in time-keeping on the line. At the end of last year it was a disaster but there has been a significant improvement."

He added that he was certain that more people than ever were using the Alton to London line and this had probably contributed to the massive profits made by SWT in the last year.

South West Trains spokesperson Michelle Stephens said that money made by the company was already being put back into the lines run by SWT.

"The fact is that we have been investing back into our services," she said, "We have put £90 million into 30 new trains and that is over and above our franchise commitment."

The 30 new trains referred to the part replacement of some 100 vintage slam-door trains presently used by SWT.

She added: "We have got major off-peak changes in the summer time-tables, major refurbishments of a number of our trains, security guards on trains and help points on 175 stations."

About the line users' wish that changes are made to the track between Alton and Farnham she said: "We only rent the tracks from Railtrack. But if they were to put in the double line it would benefit everyone because we would be able to run more trains."

Stagecoach group chairman Brian Souter said: "South West Trains has continued to carry more passengers and we have increased services by more than 10 per cent since privatisation.

"Despite this increased volume of services, reliability on both mainline and suburban services is now at record levels and punctuality is also improving with the best levels recorded since privatisation over the last three months.

"Given the improved operational performance, our commitment to new train investment and new services, we believe that we have established a strong case to support franchise extension and we will be submitting proposals to the government in the near future."