Have your say on Southeastern rail services (From News Shopper)
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Have your say on Southeastern rail services
1:27pm Thursday 30th August 2012 in Bexley By Mark Chandler
WE all love to moan about it but now passengers have a rare chance to comment on Southeastern train services.
The company's current franchise is up for renewal in 2014, lasting until at least 2020, so the Department for Transport (DfT) is running a consultation allowing people to say what improvements they want to see.
Among the upcoming challenges for the franchise is disruption caused by the rebuilding of London Bridge station and the way Crossrail, due to pass through Woolwich and Abbey Wood, affects other services.
Long-suffering Grove Park commuter Tom Royal, who wants stricter penalties when the company fails to meet targets, has even set up his own website making it easier for people to respond, with their comments emailed straight to the DfT.
The 31-year-old journalist said: "I set it up because very few people seem to know about the consultation, and even for those who do find the original consultation document it is far too difficult to respond.
"There's a long list of mostly simple questions to be answered in the consultation but these are buried inside a huge PDF document.
"I hope my site will make it possible for train users to send a useful response in 15 minutes or so, and that more people will do so."
Erith and Thamesmead MP Teresa Pearce said she was encouraging constituents to reply and had urged Southeastern to make Erith station wheelchair accessible.
She said: "This is people's one opportunity to talk about the issue we've had with Southeastern.
"I know people say what's the point, but unless you join in, no one's going to listen to you."
Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said: "Before we let this franchise, we want to make sure we make the right decisions to maximise the benefits passengers get from it."
The consultation closes on September 13.
Mr Royal's site is serailwayconsultation.co.uk or visit the official site .
How would you improve the service? Leave your comments below.
Comments(19)
petermount
says...
2:07pm Thu 30 Aug 12
goldenbroomboy wrote:ok first:
1) Restore Platform 7 at London Bridge to increase capacity. 2) More use of Platform 1 at Orpington, ditto. 3) Lift for Grove Park, its a long awkward journey for disabled & those with pushchairs. 4) Restore Bromley North-London direct service, there is sufficient demand & would raise revenue. 5) Reopen Spa Road & Camberwell station (no more unlikely than any of the others).
1) Restore Platform 7 at London Bridge
Thats actually part of the building work at London Bridge. As part of ThamesLink they are adding capacity by adding 3 new through platforms. IIRC thats due for completion in 2019.
5) Reopen Spa Road
Your not the only one I've seen mention it and it's not as difficult as some would think as it's only the surface part of that station that needs building. The rest of it is still there.
In fact when Connex (the only toc that was worse than Southeastern) had a crash in 1999 they used Spa Road to evacuate the passengers.
Burntout
says...
2:13pm Thu 30 Aug 12
Halls123
says...
2:55pm Thu 30 Aug 12
2) No trains less than 8 carriages long during rush hour peak times
3) Air conditioned carriages!
A V Lowe
says...
3:02pm Thu 30 Aug 12
A station at Spa Road with a direct and walkable link to Bermondsey, provides an alternative and crowd reducing connection for those who would otherwise have to travel via London Bridge, but with a track layout to provide for turning back trains, it delivers the facility to get train services back on time, by cutting out the journey in to London Bridge and beyond, when the system seizes up. One clear detail in regulating the service is that when trains stop running, the ability to turn off the tap of piling yet more trains into the growing queue makes the recovery of a normal service very much faster.
Waterloo has Vauxhall, Victoria has Battersea Park, St Pancras has Kentish Town (or West Hampstead) all contingency stations where trains can be stopped short and passengers transferred to other routes or bus services, all available immediately. London Bridge does have a small contingency for some trains - in New Cross and New Cross Gate, where Overground services can get passengers across to Shoreditch or Whitechapel for the City.
As the operation of Stratford and West Ham stations during the Olympics showed major failures of the Central Line, HS1, Overground, and c2c all occurred - some during busy periods, but the smooth way that passengers could be redirected to the other routes available avoided major melt-down.
Contingency is a vital detail missing from the network. One major contingency option would be to run a few services in to Waterloo International, as trains for Victoria or London Bridge can be immediately diverted there if either of the other stations has to close down, and Waterloo delivers London Bridge Passengers to a location very close to that which they have been diverted from
Sidcupman
says...
9:02pm Thu 30 Aug 12
2. Why do Gravesend trains take the longest route via Greenwich? Such a drag! Send some via Sidcup or Bexley heath or run some fast trains PLEASE!
3. Trains to Victoria via Sidcup. I know this idea was resisted by those who live on the Bexleyheath line but if you start some now they may move to the better area...
4. Reopen Spa Rd and interchange with Bermondsey. Not all trains have to stop there. Just the locals.Only some lines can get at the old platforms. Contingency plan? YES .
lkfstar
says...
10:58pm Thu 30 Aug 12
2. No trains less than 10 carriages during rush hour! would be lovely to get a seat on the train in the morning and evening from bexleyheath to waterloo east and vice versa, considering Im paying nearly £200 in travel a month, and for people to sit their belongings on the seat and be given dirty looks when asked to move their bags/suitcases
3. What about transport police on trains?
4. Why is it when the ticket office is meant to be open, I find it closed, do the staff still get paid for not doing their duty???
5. How comes when there is a points failure, with all the money and technology SouthEastern have, do us commuters suffer severe delays and train cancellations? What are they doing exactly?
3.
Burntout
says...
7:11am Fri 31 Aug 12
DartfordStone
says...
11:16am Fri 31 Aug 12
the wall
says...
11:59am Fri 31 Aug 12
Dartbored
says...
2:41pm Fri 31 Aug 12
I have written to South Eastern about this and I've been given a load of bulls**t excuses - my favourite being that these are "Metro" lines, meaning the doors open frequently, reducing the effectiveness of the air conditioning.
Funny thing is, I travel on a lot of lines in and around London and most of the other rail operators manage to provide a/c on their metro services.
I don't know what's worse - arriving at work dripping with sweat or being treated like an idiot by customer services.
Good job the fares are coming down in January.
Oh, hang on.....
PaulErith
says...
3:17pm Fri 31 Aug 12
the wall wrote:Personally, think it's a good service. Doh, not getting into that debate again! :0)
The web would collapse with all that I have to say about SE Trains.
the wall
says...
3:32pm Fri 31 Aug 12
PaulErith wrote:Yeah but you don't know any different, so can not compare. Which makes your opinion wrong.
the wall wrote: The web would collapse with all that I have to say about SE Trains.Personally, think it's a good service. Doh, not getting into that debate again! :0)
PaulErith
says...
4:39pm Fri 31 Aug 12
the wall wrote::)
PaulErith wrote:Yeah but you don't know any different, so can not compare. Which makes your opinion wrong.the wall wrote: The web would collapse with all that I have to say about SE Trains.Personally, think it's a good service. Doh, not getting into that debate again! :0)
One thing I will rant about (nothing to do with SE but railway related so I'm getting off my chest!!) is the stupid system at London Bridge due to the Olympics. Just missed my train because getting from tube to platform 4 involves walking half way round London! Leave it as it was. Sure it would have coped better. Grrrr
PaulErith
says...
8:00am Sat 1 Sep 12
lkfstar wrote:Ok some of your points are valid but you do get a seat at Bexleyheath traveling into London. People with bags on seats is not SE's fault. Also there aren't actually that many cancellations and delays. Can't remember last time my train was cancelled.
1. Air-conditioning on trains please.
2. No trains less than 10 carriages during rush hour! would be lovely to get a seat on the train in the morning and evening from bexleyheath to waterloo east and vice versa, considering Im paying nearly £200 in travel a month, and for people to sit their belongings on the seat and be given dirty looks when asked to move their bags/suitcases
3. What about transport police on trains?
4. Why is it when the ticket office is meant to be open, I find it closed, do the staff still get paid for not doing their duty???
5. How comes when there is a points failure, with all the money and technology SouthEastern have, do us commuters suffer severe delays and train cancellations? What are they doing exactly?
3.
Oldchap
says...
11:13am Sat 1 Sep 12
Dartbored wrote:Air conditioning is usually on longer distance trains (Hastings etc), on local routes it isn't really practical as with frequent stops every time the doors open the cold air would be wasted
Air conditioned trains for us paupers on the Sidcup, Bexleyheath and Woolwich lines. Southeastern do have a/c on the "posher" lines (Tunbridge Wells etc) but we, alas, are not worthy.
I have written to South Eastern about this and I've been given a load of bulls**t excuses - my favourite being that these are "Metro" lines, meaning the doors open frequently, reducing the effectiveness of the air conditioning.
Funny thing is, I travel on a lot of lines in and around London and most of the other rail operators manage to provide a/c on their metro services.
I don't know what's worse - arriving at work dripping with sweat or being treated like an idiot by customer services.
Good job the fares are coming down in January.
Oh, hang on.....
Sid Cup
says...
11:17pm Sat 1 Sep 12
Sid Cup
says...
11:18pm Sat 1 Sep 12
fallyally
says...
10:48am Thu 6 Sep 12
goldenbroomboy says...
1:48pm Thu 30 Aug 12
2) More use of Platform 1 at Orpington, ditto.
3) Lift for Grove Park, its a long awkward journey for disabled & those with pushchairs.
4) Restore Bromley North-London direct service, there is sufficient demand & would raise revenue.
5) Reopen Spa Road & Camberwell station (no more unlikely than any of the others).