EXTRA Sunday services from Salisbury to London Waterloo have been announced as part of a £50 million investment package in South West Trains.

The deal with the government will include extra parking at stations and smart ticketing but has been derided by unions as a "pre-election publicity stunt".

South West Trains, which is owned by Stagecoach Group, will introduce new early evening services on Sundays which will include 570 extra seats.

The company described it as the "biggest package of customer-focused benefits for years".

A spokesperson for the South West Trains said: "As part of the £50million package of benefits for South West Trains customers, we are delighted to be-able to introduce, from December, additional seating on our Salisbury to Waterloo services.

"Over the coming months passengers will also benefit from even more customer focused benefits including smart ticketing, more parking spaces at stations and an increased number of staff on concourses to help passengers face to face."

The company also said that it plans on having more staff on station concourses and rail minister Claire Perry said the funding would make a "huge difference" to commuters.

"As we spend record amounts on modernising our railways as part of our long-term economic plan, our franchising programme is also unlocking considerable investment from train operators," she added.

The new services are due to come into effect at the end of the year, with other passenger improvements introduced by February 2017.

Mick Cash, leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: "This is yet another pre-election stunt on a basketcase franchise which has a shocking reputation for reliability and overcrowding.

"We were told that the so called 'deep alliance' between NR (National Rail) and SW (South West) trains was the model for the future and yet it has proved to be an unmitigated disaster.

"This £50 million sounds like yet another sweetener for the private train operator and will have them laughing all the way to the bank."