From Monday 16 November there are a number of short-term cuts to Southeastern’s timetable. Southeastern say they are making these changes to attempt to build in resilience as staff are subject to short notice sick leave (including self-isolation) and to reflect travel patterns during ‘lockdown’. This emergency timetable lasts until 12 December, which is after the current ‘lockdown’ is set to end.
In summary, the following changes are happening in our area:
- Tonbridge
- Direct trains to Cannon Street have been cut to just two services at 05:40 and 05:58. There are no direct Cannon Street to Tonbridge services in the evening.
- There are 6 peak trains per hour to/from London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross.
- This reduces to 4 off-peak trains per hour to/from London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross (down from 6).
- Hildenborough:
- Similar to Tonbridge, direct trains to Cannon Street have been cut back to just one train at 06:02. There are no direct Cannon Street to Hildenborough services in the evening.
- There are 2 peak trains per hour to/from London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross.
- There is just 1 off-peak train per hour to/from London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross (down from 2)
- Paddock Wood:
- Direct trains to Cannon Street have been cut back to just one train at 05:31. There are no direct Cannon Street to Paddock Wood services in the evening.
- There are 2 peak trains an hour to/from London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross
- There are 2 off-peak trains an hour to/from London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross (unchanged)
- Medway Valley line: an hourly service runs most of the day but the vast majority of services turn round at Paddock Wood rather than running through to Tonbridge. You can read about our views on this issue here.
There has not been a lot of time to consider these changes and we have provided constructive criticism to Southeastern. Our concerns include the lack of direct Cannon Street services, the reduction in off-peak services at Hildenborough and the impact of the change on the school children (note that the evening “peak” service does commence around 15:00 to cover the home school run).