A new proposed rail service from Southampton to London – which promises cheaper fares and more seats – has been backed by a city MP.

Royston Smith MP wrote to Chris Grayling MP, the Secretary of State for Transport, this week to signal his support for the new service, which has been proposed by fledgling rail company Alliance Rail Holdings.

The service would call at Eastleigh, Winchester, Basingstoke and Hook, before heading to London Waterloo.

In a letter addressed to Mr Grayling, Mr Smith said: “I believe the proposal will bring competitive benefits and improvements for my constituents on a route which suffers from no passenger choice, growing overcrowding and no fare competition.

“I have been informed that there is spare capacity on this route to accommodate these new inter-city services.”

Alliance started a consultation within the rail industry on starting the “open access” service last year, and hopes to have it up and running in December.

The proposals include seven off-peak services a day, calling at Eastleigh, Winchester, Basingstoke and Hook, and two peak services introduced in December 2018.

Alliance will initially use Class 442 trains, with peak trains offering 600 seats on each service.

The company said that both standard and first class spots will be provided.

The proposals were in consultation since last December, and the application has now been submitted the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), which will determine its fate.

A spokesman for Alliance said: “We are hoping the application will be approved. The proposals target some routes that have significant overcrowding problems at the moment.”

South Hampshire Rail Users Group co-ordinator Denis Fryer said a new service and competition may be good news for all services in the south.

He said: “The additional services would be great news for passengers.

"The existing Southampton-Waterloo services suffer badly from overcrowding, particularly in the peak hours because of demand, and off-peak because too few carriages are used.

"Rail privatisation was justified on the basis that competition between operators would provide innovative and better-value services. Twenty years on, there is little competition.

"Fares have soared, along with station car park charges, and successive additional restrictions have been introduced on the availability of cheaper tickets.

"Apart from regulated fares, such as season tickets, passengers are at the mercy of individual operators."

He added: "The new services would mitigate some deficiencies in the current timetable, for example by providing faster services from Eastleigh and Hook, where the populations continue to increase.

"Perhaps most remarkably, there are no peak trains from Southampton Central to Eastleigh between 7.38am and 8.35am, Monday to Friday.

"The only option is to go out to Winchester and come in again, which is only a minute or two quicker than waiting for the next direct train from Southampton at 8.35am."