Passengers on South West Trains look like being stuck with Stagecoach for the next 20 years.

They learnt today that the Strategic Rail Authority had named Stagecoach as the preferred bidder for the franchise.

Stagecoach distinguished itself when it became the first franchised train operator in 1996 and sacked so many drivers that it could not run the number of trains needed to satisfy the public sector requirement.

It has also reduced the number of bikes that can be carried on its Wessex Electrics and has been patchy in its response to the need for integrated transport even though it controls many of the bus services in southern England.

The choice of Stagecoach for SWT looks as if the SRA has turned its back on an ambitious plan put forward by GNER which said that if it won the SWT franchise it would build a tunnel under London to link Victoria to King's Cross or Liverpool Street to allow more cross-London services.

The SRA's "longer term vision" is limited to some unspecified variant of CrossRail and a new route from near Clapham Junction to Hackney.

To win the SWT franchise, Stagecoach promised to invest up to