The Train Gang
The campaign against cuts to Brockley's train service continues apace, with both the Brockley Cross Action Group and the Brockley Society throwing their weight behind it in recent weeks. The online petition has now topped 2,800 signatures, plus a further 400 on the paper copy (which will be available at the Brockley Christmas Market tomorrow, for those of you planning to attend).
Campaigners will be stepping up their work this weekend, with a theatrical protest planned to take place at Charing Cross Station at 2pm tomorrow.
The campaign has also undertaken some research which effectively counters the train companies' claim that the opening of the East London Line will mitigate the impact of the cuts in their services ...
'At the moment there are 6 trains an hour from London Bridge in the afternoon peak. Between 1730 and 1830, these consist of 46 coaches, with 3482 seats and carry 4203 passengers (121%). 910 of these passengers use stations beyond West Croydon and so are not expected to use the stopping service in May, meaning that 3293 commute to our stations.
'The average loading is 91.4 passengers per coach.
'The new stopping service proposed from May 2010 will consist of four trains an hour made up of 32 coaches in total. The campaign's figures (and TfL's models) show that roughly 30% of the current passengers will transfer onto the East London Line services, however they also expect the number of passengers using the line to increase by 30% due to the suppressed demand.
'We will therefore end up with roughly the same number of commuters using the London Bridge service as at present.
'The average number of commuters per coach, if the proposed changes are implemented, will be 102.9 passengers per coach; an increase of 1/8th on an already excessively congested service.
'A train is defined as being overcrowded if 40% of the passengers are standing. A typical coach has 84 seats in 18 rows, so would only be classified as overcrowded when 34 passengers were standing. If you get ten passengers into each vestibule, you would require 14 people standing between the seats.'
