South West Trains have been handed an extra four-year franchise to run train services, rather than the 20 years they had been expecting.

Parent company Stagecoach will run the commuter routes until February 2007.

They will be hoping they can then secure one of the government's new exclusive franchises to run, and run all services into Waterloo station.

The extension ensures the introduction of new trains and extra services, including additional Sunday and evening trains.

Government role

But it means a much greater role for government in railway planning, reducing SWT to a management company, carrying out the government's decisions on routes and timetables.

Strategic Rail Authority Chairman Richard Bowker said: "This agreement enables South West Trains to focus on what matters to passengers - recovering performance to a level that passengers deserve and expect."

This agreement enables South West Trains to focus on what matters to passengers

Strategic Rail Authority Chairman Richard Bowker

BBC South Transport Correspondent Paul Clifton said the new short franchise was in many ways a return to the way things were done before privatisation.

Underperforming companies could be taken over by the Strategic Rail Authority, which announced the new plans.

They said train companies would generally get shorter five to eight-year contracts and be subject to spot checks to see how they were performing.

Those companies making excess profits could have revenue skimmed off and ploughed back into the national network.