London Regional Transport

It’s game, set and match for SWELTRAC launch
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date 24 June 1997
source London Regional Transport
type Press release

The Minister for Transport in London, Glenda Jackson, MP, will take Centre Court on Tuesday 24 June, the second day of the 1997 Wimbledon Tennis Championships, when she endorses the launch of the South and West London Transport Conference Partnership Initiative (SWELTRAC), at a ceremony at the Centre Court Shopping Centre in Wimbledon.

The SWELTRAC Partnership led by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames was set up in 1994 with the aim of improving strategic bus and rail orbital movement and to reduce car dependency in south and west London.

The partnership includes London Transport, eleven local authorities, bus and train operators and Railtrack, together with representatives of transport pressure groups, business and passengers’ interests. SWELTRAC is finding better ways of managing the everyday needs for movement of people, particularly to town centres where most congestion occurs and where improvements to the environment can have greatest effect.

The SWELTRAC Partnership has already undertaken three intensive studies and from these strategies have been developed to cover the short, medium and long term. Initiatives such as integrated transport improvements, gateway stations north and south of Heathrow and a new rail link to Heathrow from the south have been identified. Railtrack are leading these gateway initiatives and it is hoped that progress on financing the Feltham gateway will be announced shortly

The first round of SWELTRAC schemes are now operating, aided by Government financial support. These include: bus only lanes in Twickenham town centre, and new signals that give priority to buses and control the volume of car traffic into the centre. Financial contributions to the interchange improvements at Wimbledon Station and traffic management, signal modelling and new bus lanes in Kingston town centre are also a key part of the SWELTRAC strategy.

These schemes are being complemented by London Transport and the bus operators in a number of ways. These include service enhancement with more frequent buses and extended operation in the evenings and at weekends, new low-floor buses running on low sulphur fuel to make access easier and reduce pollution; and improved information, advertising and publicity.

The London boroughs are working together to improve road conditions for buses and to extend controls of on-street parking and make reductions in long term public parking where possible.

Glenda Jackson, MP, Minister for Transport in London said: " I am delighted to endorse the SWELTRAC Partnership. A sustainable transport policy for this sector of London must involve greater use of environmentally friendly modes such as cycling, walking and public transport, with car use restrained to those journeys where it is absolutely necessary"

Railhub Archive ::: 1997-06-24 LRT-001