With years of rail disruption looming, two rival parliamentary candidates have made Southeastern a priority ahead of the next election.

This month, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Lewisham and Greenwich Councillor Matt Hartley launched his Sort It, Southeastern petition calling for service improvements and better communication when things go wrong.

Coun Hartley also wants longer 12-carriage trains on all routes and a commitment to restoring link to Charing Cross from stations on the Greenwich Line - soon to be axed permanently once platform upgrade work starts at London Bridge.

That work means no more direct Charing Cross trains from next year, no changes at London Bridge on to other Waterloo East and Charing Cross services until August 2016 and, from then, no stops at London Bridge until January 2018.

He said: "As a commuter myself, I am all too familiar with the absolutely atrocious service we receive from Southeastern.  

"The government has arranged for a much-needed and welcome £70m investment in the service – and it is now down to Southeastern to deliver improvements. I’ve launched this new consumer campaign to hold this company’s feet to the fire to make sure we get the change we need."

Meanwhile, Labour's Councillor Matthew Pennycook - also gunning for the same parliamentary seat this year - caught a delayed train to meet the company's new managing director this month. 

He said the meeting took in January's planned introduction of 12-car trains - which causes its own problems at Woolwich Dockyard's short platforms - a lack of rolling stock and service reliability.

But he said much of the discussion also centered around the London Bridge work and making sure measures were in place so commuters needing extra journeys were not out of pocket.

He said: "I think we've had a quite a lot of success, particularly down to the Charlton and Greenwich Rail User Groups."

But he went on: "I've heard promises from them for years but they've got to be pushed all the time.

"I've been writing to them every couple of months for the last year-and-a-half. I fully expect that to be continuing for the next three-and-a-half years of their franchise."

A spokesman for Southeastern said they were "disappointed" by Coun Hartley's petition and they would use "all means available" to inform people about the Thameslink disruption.

He said: "The renewal of our franchise means that over the next three and a half years we will invest more than £70 million in information systems, stations, trains and in providing more staff across our network, all of which will directly benefit passengers in the Greenwich and Woolwich areas."

And he added: "During the rebuild, the crossover track that allowed direct services from Greenwich to Charing Cross will be removed and so trains will terminate at Cannon Street in future. Re-instating a direct line would cut capacity at London Bridge by 40 per cent and directly impact on performance and punctuality through the station – negating the benefits that the Thameslink Programme is intended to bring. 

"The project will make interchanging between services at London Bridge much easier for passengers once work is completed in 2018."

Coun Hartley's petition is online at sortitsoutheastern.com