TRAIN services in Bexley are in for a radical overhaul.

To the anger of many, the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) has announced it will re-privatise the area's trains.

Following consultations, the SRA has also drawn up a new specification for the companies bidding for the franchise.

And this will include axing the Bexleyheath-to-Victoria service, which has provoked a furious reaction for Bexleyheath and Crayford MP Nigel Beard.

Train services throughout Kent were run by Connex but the French-owned company was stripped of its franchise due to poor performance. Publicly-owned company South Eastern Trains was created to keep the services running and has proved a big hit with commuters for improving punctuality and service.

Many, including Erith and Thamesmead MP John Austin along with others, is bitterly disappointed at the decision to put the service out to private bidders.

Most of the service changes proposed last year by the SRA, have been dropped. These include plans to axe all off-peak trains between Belvedere and Dartford. These have now been reinstated, together with services from Bexleyheath-to-Charing Cross, extra trains on the Sidcup loop line and extra trains from Sidcup to Victoria.

But services to Bexleyheath will be hit. Instead of 22 trains an hour to Charing Cross, Cannon Street and Victoria during the three-hour peak, it is proposed to cut the Victoria service completely, leaving only 16 trains. Also axed will be the two off-peak trains an hour to Victoria.

Mr Beard has written to the SRA accusing it of burying the cuts among a mountain of information. He is urging commuters to launch a petition.

  • Four companies have been invited to bid for the franchise and the SRA expects to announce a preferred bidder in the autumn. They are:
  • South Eastern Railways: (A joint venture between Stagecoach Group and Danish train operator DSB International)
  • First Kent Integrated Railways: (Part of FirstGroup plc - the UK's largest bus operator)
  • Great South Eastern Railway: (A joint venture between GNER Holdings which runs the UK's east coast inter-city service and Hong Kong-based MTR corporation)
  • London and South Eastern Railway: (A combined bid from UK transport company the Go-Ahead group and French-based transport business Keolis)