FREE Wi-Fi on trains and at stations, more carriages and reduced journey times to and from London are on the wish-list of passengers polled ahead of a rail operator’s bid to renew its contract to run services.

They also wanted shorter travelling time between Southampton and Portsmouth and from the east of the county to Southampton Airport Parkway, as well as an extension of the Solent Go smartcard to rail services.

The Department of Transport carried out the consultation before it offers a 26-month extension of the SouthWest Trains franchise to Stagecoach Group until April 2019.

A decision on whether to award the contract will be made in the new year.