Standing on platform two of Earlsfield station, Stewart Palmer is in prime position to answer questions about the network.

Every day, thousands of passengers use Earlsfield, and stations across south-west London, for their daily commute or to reach the coast.

But while in essence train travel is as simple as buying a ticket and boarding a carriage, a number of issues, ranging from cost to overcrowding to the very name of Europe's busiest station, face commuters on a daily basis.

So what does the company's top boss think of Clapham Junction being renamed Battersea Junction or the use of Oyster cards on the overground?

A campaign is currently running to see Clapham Junction renamed to reflect its Battersea location. Do you think this is pie in the sky, or are we likely to soon arrive at Battersea Junction?

I can't get terribly excited about what you call a railway station but, to me, the Clapham Junction name is almost iconic and not just in this country.

It is supposed to be Europe's busiest railway station and renaming it just for the sake of it is not something we would support.

The implications of it for people who don't live in Battersea would be very, very considerable. The cost of re-naming in terms of altering all the publicity - not just the signs but every timetable and database - would be huge.

I don't think it is adding any value to the vast majority of the users of Clapham Junction. What rail users want is a high quality, reliable railway. It doesn't matter what you call the station, what they want is a good value, high quality station.

It currently costs about £650 for a season ticket from Earlsfield to Waterloo. Do you believe this is good value for money?

If you ask yourself how many journeys you can make on that and work out what the rate per mile is, say if you're using it six times a week and at weekends, then I would say that yes it is good value for money.

People often only take the variable costs of a car into account and if you work out the true costs of motoring then, while train travel is dearer here compared with some European countries, compared to motoring it is very good value for money.

How soon will it be until passengers can use pay-as-you-go Oyster cards on your line and at your stations?

The position on pay-as-you-go is that we are not opposed to the principle of it at all, but people need to understand that it will only work once there are ticket gates at Waterloo.

The gates there are scheduled to be installed by January 2009 and, providing we can reach a suitable commercial deal with Transport for London on the use of pay-as-you-go, it will come in some time in 2009.

But until the gates are provided at Waterloo, frankly it would be a licence for fraud if we allowed pay-as-you-go at the moment. It sounds a long way away but it's only 14 months, so I'm confident that in early 2009 we will be able to accept the cards.

Are there any plans in place to ease overcrowding in rush hours - for example more trains?

From December there will be an additional early morning, peak service train from Staines to Waterloo and there are plans to provide longer trains on the Windsor side service from Waterloo.

In the long-term there is a definite commitment to move from an eight-car suburban railway to a 10-car or even a 12-car. There is a definite commitment to deal with the growth issue but we do have to realise we are talking about big, big money over a long timescale. It won't happen overnight.

Ticket machines at stations often lock up if a faulty credit or debit card is used which causes long delays for passengers. Is this too much security?

It's not a security issue. There are two things we are aware of and we have addressed one, and soon we will be addressing the other. The first issue was that the machines were so successful that the amount of transactions overwhelmed the central system. So we've doubled the capacity of that pipeline and it appears that that has solved the problem.

The other issue is that the machine currently takes the card all the way in to read it and if you put in a broken card or a faulty card then it tends to get jammed. So we're doing a modification so that you will only put it in to the point where you can read the PIN so if the card is damaged, you can physically pull it out.

It's like a lot of things - we didn't get it all right but we know about the problems and are doing something about it and we're hoping this modification will be sorted in the next 12 months or so.

When was the last time you travelled on the south-west network?

I live in Dorchester which is on our line so I travel on the trains most days if not several times a day. I wear my name badge when I'm on the trains because it's a good opportunity to talk to staff and also get engaged in conversations with passengers.

I really see this as a key part of my job - it is about being visible and encouraging people. We employ 5,000 people and I can't run the network myself - I have to do it through the people who work for this organisation.

How closely do you work with the British Transport Police and do you have problems with crime on the line?

We are unique in that the railway industry and indeed the underground has its own police force and they therefore understand our issues and we work very closely with them. But we have to recognise they only have a certain level of resource and you can't have a policeman on every station 24 hours a day.

They quite rightly target certain areas, for example assaults, and their success rate is actually significantly better than most ordinary civil police forces so I'm very happy with what they do. We can always want more in life but we have to strike a balance.

Since the July 7 attacks the British Transport Police have had to put a lot of effort and resources into the threat of terrorism on the railways which is something all passengers would support and welcome.

We have also got our own "police force" - security staff - who are out there to provide passenger reassurance.

They don't have powers of arrest but we are thinking of extending their powers to turn them into, in effect, police community support officers. That work is going on at the moment.

How important do you think it is to reward your members of staff in terms of morale and customer satisfaction?

I think it's hugely important because it is about recognition of our employees, and we have got some fantastic members of staff. The railway is a team game and it is only as good as all its operating parts.

Are there any improvements you would like to see on the line or any dreams you have for the future?

I'm not sure about dreams because with dreams you have the habit of waking up! But in terms of where we want to go to we are committed to spending some £40million in the course of this franchise on station improvements.

Every station on South West Trains will have CCTV linked to our Wimbledon control centre and we will be repainting every station. A lot of money is going into improving lighting which again goes into reassuring people, especially at night.

There is a lot going on and it is not a dream - these are commitments we are determined to deliver.

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