This wretched pandemic continues to affect our daily lives. Train passenger numbers remain significantly down with many of us still furloughed or working from home. We therefore recognise that it is a really difficult job to try and build a train timetable given the shifting sands we are all standing on.
This new timetable comes into effect from September and will last at least until the end of the year. There are some positives for us in that we understand that peak trains will not stop at Chelsfield and instead will run fast from Sevenoaks to London Bridge. This would be a significant benefit were we at normal passenger levels as the Chelsfield stops leave our trains crowded.
What is less good is that TLC understands there will be varying coach lengths from what we are used to and so if more people start returning to the office, it may become more difficult to practice social distancing. We would very much welcome clear signposting of the train lengths and also as much information as possible on loading so that people can choose the train that suits their needs.
The worst bit is a hair-brained scheme that sees the Medway Valley line terminate at Paddock Wood rather than Tonbridge. This very much looks like the sign of management running the rail network through a spreadsheet and not putting the needs of passengers first. Tonbridge has a number of ongoing connections, whereas Paddock Wood has far fewer and no unique ones compared to Tonbridge. The journey times appear to be increasing by 13 minutes, which is just unnecessary. This is compounded by people who then need to change to a connecting service afterwards (for example if they are trying to travel to Gatwick).
TLC understands that this is being done to ‘manage performance’, but it just feels like a slap in the face for passengers when the rail industry should be doing all it can to promote rail as a safe and efficient form of transport.
We call on Southeastern to correct this short sightedness and have the trains run through to Tonbridge as they have done for a considerable period. There has been no consultation over this change and we very much hope that this is an accidently oversight rather than a sneaky way of bringing in cuts. We will be making representations on behalf of our members.
If you feel strongly on this, please let us know and we will incorporate your responses into your communication with Southeastern.