Crofton Park services boost planned
Crofton Park could benefit from greatly increased train services, according to the latest draft of the Strategic Rail Plan, developed by Network Rail. But it could come at the expense of the services enjoyed by our neighbours in Nunhead.
Lewisham Council has long-campaigned for increased train services to Catford (presumably to appease the gentrified hordes that are currently invading that area, eh Ross?). As part of the consultation, Lewisham Council made a submission in support of the option to route the extra trains south-eastwards to Catford and Bromley rather than through Lewisham towards Bexley. This option would improve train frequencies to Crofton Park, Catford, Bellingham and Beckenham Hill.
However, over in Nunhead, it's a plan which Cllr Fiona Colley is doing her best to scupper, on the basis that it could lead to reductions in local services. As you can see on her blog, she claims it could lead to:
- No direct trains between Denmark Hill and London Bridge (currently 2 per hour)
- Direct trains between Peckham Rye to London Bridge reduced from 8 per hour to 6 per hour
- Direct trains between Queens Road to London Bridge reduced from 8 per hour to 6 per hour
- No direct trains between Queens Road and Victoria (currently 2 per hour)
- High Speed One frees up network capacity in South London
- Thameslink will allow for more north-south rail journeys through London Bridge and will expand the capacity of Blackfriars
- The East London Line Extension will provide new options for commuters in the Queens Road area
The strategic review is ongoing, but the plans relate to services from 2011 onwards.
Thanks to Ed for the information.
20 comments:
I really hope these plans do go ahead as the morning services from Crofton Park to Blackfriars have gotten a lot busier in the last 18months - though not so crowded as at Brockley - and I reckon will be getting busier as more commuters are moving into the area. An alternative service into London Victoria would be much much appreciated.
Regarding Cllr Fiona Colley's concerns: it is pretty much a certainty that the trains between Denmark Hill and London Bridge will cease to exist, regardless of the Crofton Park plans because there won't be enough platforms at London Bridge for terminating trains once the Thameslink work begins. Peckham Rye and Queens Road are already served by a reasonably frequent train network - I do hope the funding is granted for East London line phase 2 soon.
As a resident of Nunhead, I take Cr Colley's point re services to Queen's Road Peckham, which is an occasionally useful station for me and no doubt for many residents. However, from a purely selfish point of view, if more services go to Crofton Park then that presumably means more services to Nunhead station itself (as it's on the same line, from London Blackfriars)...
I've just read the strategy in full and the plans affecting Crofton Park aren't until 2011 which is AGES away. They will affect Nunhead too - there will be 4 trains an hour to Blackfriars and 2 per hour to Victoria. The main disadvantage for Queens Rd and Denmark Hill seems to be removal of direct services to London Bridge - however there are plans to address this by passengers interchanging at Peckham Rye to get to London Bridge.
I hope it is not true that trains between Denmark Hill and London Bridge will cease to exist - I work at Denmark Hill and know the huge numbers of doctors and medical students + admin staff who commute between the two teaching hospitals on that line - there is enormous local opposition to the service being scrapped.
The Crofton Park increase in services will be so welcome(and can't impinge on Denmark Hill to London Bridge services as these run on different tracks). The trains are so much more overcrowded now - does anyone know why? I would guess that services somewhere down line have been reduced.
hooray for more trains at crofton park.... two trains an hour to london blackfriars are just not enough.... and the trains will stop at nunhead so how can they be losing out.
This is good news for Crofton Park and good news for regeneration.
2011 isnt that far away really - only 4 yrs!
You guys had better get used of losing Blackfriars. As part of the Thameslink work it is planned to close on the 2nd of January '09 for. I think. 30 months. It will be a demolished to the last brick before a shiny new steel and glass affair is built, with all the usual office and retail space tacked on (or is the station tacked on to an office/retail space??!!)
Having said that I'm not entirely sure they will be able to maintain their dates for the closure so you may get a short reprieve.
Is this true that Blackfriars will close completely to accommodate works? That's going to cock things up big time for us Crofton Park-Blackfriars commuters and will no doubt put even more strain on the Brockley-London Bridge service.
Why will it be a major problem if Blackfriars closes? Don't you just get off at London Bridge and change for Canon Street?
Blackfriars will close for a while, but this just means the train will travel further North up the Thameslink route. You'll have to walk from City Thameslink to Blackfriars which takes all of a couple of minutes.
I don't want commuters who need the London Bridge to Denmark Hill service to suffer but Crofton Park will for sure need extra trains per hour by 2011.
Great news. Only 3 years to go!
A couple of weeks ago I tried to arrange to meet some friends for a drink at Jam Circus. I had to give up when I realised it was completely impractical for them to get there due to the limited train service to Crofton Park.
From a purely selfish perspective this is good news for Brockley residents.
I don't think providing extra trains for Crofton Park could affect train services Denmark Hill to London Brdge - they are totally different lines running between quite different destinations. Why is it being talked about as an 'either/or' type situation?
Crofton Park needs more trains and the Denmrk Hill to London Bridge service needs to stay - it is one of the busiest and most useful lines I know as it links two teaching hospitals which are both part of King's College London.
Having read the whole 160 page(!) report, it is almost certain the East London Line phase 2 to Clapham will replace any lost train services at Denmark Hill/Nunhead anyway.
Looks like we'll have a train every 15 minutes at Crofton Park, with additional Victoria trains every half hour from 2011.
Although god help us if Buffoon Boris gets voted in next month - he'll send us back to the dark ages.
By the time this new service is introduced won't the ELL be up and running, thus easing the pressure on the trains?
With at least 3,000 new homes planned within 2 mins of Lewisham Station would it not make sense to run more trains down that line?
The problem with running the services to Lewisham is that Lewisham station is already very crowded during peak time travel and therefore an increase in services could not currently be supported. Crofton Park and the Catford loop on the other hand are currently underutilised (i.e. have capacity for more passnegers at the stations) because the service does not run freuqently enough for some commuters to use.
Hooray:
(a) A news item (and labelled section) about Crofton Park Station on this blog in addition to the frequent good news about the ELL extension
(b) The potential of 4x Elephant/Blackfriars trains per hour from 2011 plus 4 to Victoria
Let’s only hope the local cllrs in Crofton Park/Lewisham as a whole are perusing this potential improvement in services as vociferously as Cllr Fiona Colley is opposing it!
I note from Cllr Colley’s blog:
“There was enormous support across South London for the campaign against the divertion of the South London Line rail service…
”Our London Assembly Member Val Shawcross took the matter up with Mayor Ken Livingstone and secured his agreement for a proper survey to be done of the use of the line. TfL London Rail are carrying out this survey which will give us not just the numbers of passengers using the line but also the purpose of their journey, their origin and final destination. We hope to have this information in a month or two and then meet again with Network Rail.”
Just what are our local cllrs and our London Assembly Member doing about this to fight for the Crofton Park/Brockley/Catford corner?
Great news for those of us at the Crofton Park end of Brockley - 4 trains an hour means being able to turn up at the station without worrying about finding out what time the next train is due.
Will make it even easier to pop down to Peckham for a drink at Bar Story!
@spincat: "I don't think providing extra trains for Crofton Park could affect train services Denmark Hill to London Brdge - they are totally different lines running between quite different destinations. Why is it being talked about as an 'either/or' type situation?"
The train route under discussion currently runs from Victoria to London Bridge, via Clapham High Street, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye and Queen's Road Peckham. The paths into London Bridge are, as I understand it, required for other new services in the SE London area. As such, the trains from Victoria need somewhere to go once they get to Peckham Rye, and Bellingham has been identified as the destination. So it's all about available pathways across the network, not just routes in isolation.
According to the original document, the Victoria-London Bridge route has the lowest loadings of any route into London Bridge, so is the first on the chopping block. Not using the route myself, I'm in no position to comment on the accuracy of this assertion.
It's only about 15 minutes by bus from Camberwell to London Bridge; are the doctors and nurses at Guy's and the Maudsley too posh to take the humble bus, and demand a train?
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/rus%20documents/route%20utilisation%20strategies/south%20london/consultation%20responses/l/london%20borough%20of%20lewisham%20–%20bellingham%20ward%20councillors.pdf
Hello
Further to this, I thought I'd put a link to the Bellingham councillors response to Network Rail's consultation on the RUS. As you'll know the RUS was published last week and the recommendations for trains to Victoria along the Crofton Park/Catford/Bellingham line have been included, which is good news!
Regards
Cllr. Ami Ibitson
Labour Councillor for Bellingham ward
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