A campaigner hands out leaflets outside New Cross Gate. Photo: Shade Lapite
The Forest Hill Society joined forces with seven other civic societies to hand out thousands of leaflets this week in a bid to raise commuter awareness of train service cuts due to start next month.
From December 13 train company Southern will no longer provide trains to Charing Cross, a change that will affect commuters boarding at Brockley, New Cross Gate, Honor Oak Park, Sydenham and Forest Hill.
Southern also plans to reduce the number of trains travelling between Sydenham and London Bridge in the afternoons and evenings in order to make way for the East London Line overground service in May 2010.
Richard Hibbert, Chair of the Forest Hill Society, said: “This is one of the busiest lines in south London … We need more capacity to and from central London, not less.”
Lewisham Council has demanded an explanation from rail bosses after hearing of the plans. Green Party councilor Dean Walton said: “The whole council has spoken with one voice to say these cuts are unacceptable.”
Southern say the cuts are out of their hands. The results of a formal consultation held in March last year gave rival company Southeastern greater access to Charing Cross routes and forced Southern to cut their services. “There will be no train paths or platforms available to us”, a spokesperson said.
The total number of trains running through the affected south-east stations will actually double from six an hour to twelve. However, eight of those trains will be East London Line services.
Mr. Hibbert, said: “The East London Line goes to the wrong place; most of the 15,000 commuters who use this line each morning work in central London, not Canary Wharf.”
Commuter Trudy Peeler, 33, who lives in Nunhead but works in the City said: “I think it’s really stupid. I live here because it’s easy to get to the City. You can’t get on the trains as it is. If they cut the number of trains … I’d probably just change my route completely.”
The Forest Hill Society has started an online petition to oppose the cuts. Over 2,000 people have signed it so far. They will continue to leaflet stations next week and to pressure the Minister of Transport for a meeting.
You can sign the petition at http://NoToTrainCuts.notlong.com
I would like to know where Mr Hibbert and forest hill society get their information that ‘most of the 15,000 people who use this line…work in central london, not canary wharf’ – does he know each one of them personally perhaps?! I was not aware that any of these societies had been given a political mandate to speak for all of us…
There are many, many people who will welcome the ELL as it will dramatically improve both their commute (to the City and fast developing East End as well as connecting to West End via Jubilee Line) and the long term future of the area they live in, and although i am dismayed at the cuts to rail services i am concerned that the civic societies campaiging against this are actually campaiging AGAINST the ELL and suggest cutting some of those trains would be a solution….. very shortsighted and disingenuous. I wonder how clearly they have explained their position to all of those people they have urged to sign the petition…
‘The East London Line goes to the wrong place’ – not for me, and not for thousands of others.
No-one I has spoken to has been against the East London Line – we all welcome its return. This campaign is purely about the proposed cuts to the Southern Rail services which have been successfully running at these levels for many years, with & without the ELL in place.
The ELL enhancement is long overdue and will bring many new passengers travelling in both directions. This is not an either/or situation: we are supposed to have both systems running to serve this highly populated area!
The line in through Brockley – Forest Hill – Sydenham is one of the country’s top overcrowded lines and is consistently busy, with standing room only even outside peak hours. Cuts to the Charing Cross services this winter are wholly unconnected to next year’s ELL reopening. And Southern’s premature assumption that a majority of passengers will suddenly swap to use the ELL rather than travel the shorter journey to London Bridge for City & West End connections is illogical, especially without any hard evidence from public consultation.
More sensible would be to run both services in parallel & then after twelve months adjust timetables & number of carriages per service if passenger flow shows demand is more in the ELL direction. But that is not their proposal. Design of signalling equipment etc on the shared lines should be planned to cope with both sets of services, as originally promised. We desperately need the extra capacity in SE London for the growing number of passengers to travel safely, quickly and without being crammed into uncomfortably full carriages for many of our journeys.
Local residents have been promised repeatedly that the ELL improvements were to supplement, not replace, Southern trains and these proposed cuts could negate a lot of the good the new routes will do by forcing a lot of commuters onto the ELL, causing instant overcrowding on the new services.
Current studies & surveys (eg http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/transport/rail-overcrowding.pdf) indicate that cutting rail services is not the answer, especially on such a heavily overcrowded route, & that more carriages and more frequent services are required on all lines.
Please do not see this campaign as an attack on the Overground improvements – we all want an integrated public transport system that serves all Londoners & allows us the freedom to travel wherever we want in the capital. Thanks.
Well said, Jeanette.
I completely agree with all you’ve said above.
Jane – our campaign isn’t against the ELL. The ELL is amongst the best news on rail transport that this area has had in the last 30 years. Of course, the ELL will be a boon to those travelling to Canary Wharf, north of the City and lots of other places. And it will plug us directly into tube lines such as the Dictrict and Jubilee lines. Many of us, myself included, have fought for the ELL for years – we are fully aware of how important this new link is to many locals.
The evidence, however, ( and these are figures from TfL) is that approx 70% of passengers will continue to want to use the line to LB and Charing Cross.
No point in gaining the ELL only to have our line into central London downgraded.
I hope you’ll be able to support this campaign.
Barry Milton, Sydenham Society