Today I wrote to the Office Of Rail Regulation regarding the possible breach of Southern and Thameslinks franchise agreement by refusing to enter into a public consultation on the cancellation of services from (and to) Redhill, Reigate and connecting stations. I encourage everyone in this group to email [email protected] with a letter similar to the below, and cc [email protected] To whom it may concern - I write with regard to the significant service alterations in effect from January 2015 for passengers travelling from Redhill, Reigate and connected stations as part of the London Bridge improvement works. Neither Southern or Thameslink have entered into a public consultation, and Southern have released a public statement that they have not, and will not enter into a public consultation: southernrailway/southern/news/how-will-redhill-be-affected-from-january/ Thameslink have not yet made any statement with regard to this effect, but it is the opinion that as they are part of the same franchise, Govia, the position is the same. The issue here is that it states very clearly in the Thameslink franchise agreement, under schedule 4, that any significant alterations to the timetable require a 12 week consultation period. One would assume that there is a similar clause in the Southern franchise agreement. It is understood that Southern have implied that the public do not have the considerable technical expertise and knowledge of the network ... [required] for undertaking such a review. However, this does not in our opinion negate any train operators obligation under their franchise agreement(s). It is Southern, and Thameslink, responsibility to consult with the public and explain the impact and the decisions taken. If the timetable changes are entirely unavoidable, and Redhill truly has to absorb the majority of service alterations south of East Croydon, then the concern of compensation should be entered into. This could have, and should have, been part of a public consultation. Lastly, I would like to illustrate some of the concerns and scenarios that have been raised to me: 1. Parents that currently commute to London Bridge after dropping off children at childcare arrangements will a) struggle to get to work on time as their train has been cancelled (reasoning by Southern is that they can leave for work earlier, but this is not realistic) or b) will have to drive to Redhill station and incur additional parking costs in the case that they normally commute from Earlswood, for example 2. Trains into London are already over crowded, and the cancellation of some services, and replacement with a couple of additional carriages, will result in significant overcrowding 3. East Croydon is already overcrowded, and with the current improvement works there, changing from a Victoria to London Bridge train could be hazardous (if you are able to squeeze on to a train) 4. The cost of a season ticket from Redhill is 20% more than Oxted, yet the services are very comparable, with the exception that from January Oxted will have significantly more trains to London Bridge as they are not as affected by the cancellations Please note that this is certainly not an exhaustive list of the issues at Redhill, Reigate and connected stations, but it intended to present a clear message that a public consultation is required urgently. #southern #thameslink #redhill #reigate #redhillfairfares
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 06:47:32 +0000
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