Comments on: South London Line Woes

By: Nick Biskinis

Nick Biskinis — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:18:18 +0000

I was the first person to uncover TfL’s plans to scrap the South London Line back in March. As part of a commuter group i had been involved with TfL Rail since 2005. Since 2008 South London stakeholder groups had experienced lots of difficulty getting meetings with TfL Rail Stakeholder ‘Communications’ Officers (of which there are several on high wages paid for by you and me). Either they’d not respond to e-mails or abruptly cancel meetings we’d set up. Now in retrospect it was at the time Ian Brown was hatching the plan to scrap SLL.

I found out the truth by piecing the clues together. Victoria-Bellingham (which was to be the SLL) was to be an 8 car train requiring platform lengthening at Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road. This would be operating alongside the ELLX trains so we had a mixture. So far so good. I then wrote to TfL Rail to ask why ELLX trains were only going to be 4 car. Eventually they responded by saying they needed to be 4 car because some stations couldn’t take any longer trains.

But wait – those stations were Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road – which were getting longer platforms anyway weren’t they? No response from TfL Rail, so i e-mailed the DfT in early March, and buried deep within the response was a strong clue. I then e-mailed and asked the question outright: ‘Has TfL Rail got the Victoria-Bellingham service scrapped to fund ELLX?’ And i got a straight answer.

No mention was made by Ian Brown of this when ELLX was announced. In fact the DfT made it a condition of agreeing to scrapping SLL that he publically propose scrapping Victoria-Bellingham and consult stakeholders and elected representatives. He has not do so – even now when TfL’s actions have been revealed.

On March 26th the DfT wrote to Ian Brown to ask for an ‘update’ on what progress he’d made on informing stakeholders. Yet earlier that month (before i discovered the truth) Angela Atkinson, TfL Rail’s Communications Executive sent me an e-mail subdivided into headings. One of them was ‘Services at Victoria and London Bridge’. She made no mention about Victoria-Bellingham. In March TfL Rail held a ‘Stakeholder Update’ meeting with key stakeholder groups. Again TfL Rail said nothing about Victoria-Bellingham being scrapped to fund ELLX.

So just when the DfT were asking Ian Brown whether he’d informed stakeholders about the proposal to axe Victoria-Bellingham, he and his staff were actively concealing the truth from stakeholder groups. Ian Brown has since claimed to the DfT that he did inform stakeholder groups and elected representatives. Yet – the evidence is entirely to the contrary.

Now Ian Brown is doing a ‘review’ of South London rail services. We have asked him who he is consulting, but he has yet to respond.

For those of you who want to know more, you are entitled to ask under Freedom of Information (FOI), But you must use those words in your correspondence. It strikes me that there is a question TfL need to answer: Did TfL Rail lie to the DfT about publicising to stakeholders the axeing of Victoria-Bellingham in order to get approval for this? If so, then Ian Brown’s position as MD of TfL Rail is untenable.

By: DfT’s Disappearing Millions « Logistical

DfT’s Disappearing Millions « Logistical — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:10:10 +0000

[...] Boriswatch describes in admirable detail the wheeling and dealing that lead to TfL agreeing a deal with the DfT to build the East London Line 2 extension. A fantastic achievement for all concerned. Slipped in among the news of funding was that the DfT had offered TfL and additional £7m to build Surrey Canal Road Station, but that TfL had turned down the money. [...]

By: L P

L P — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:13:46 +0000

I live by Denmark Hill station and rely on the train service to Victoria and London Bridge. Camberwell is otherwise left or reached by a bus ride in a traffic jam.
I wrote to Travel Watch and Harriet Harman (local MP) in February to see if I could learn more about the threat to the service. Both were reassuring that the Victoria – Bellingham line would take care of any loss of service. Frightening how quickly things can change in just a couple of months.
Camberwell is home to a busy hospital and an Art School and judging by the lack of parking available during the day there are plenty of people who need to get here and work here.
The road through Vauxhall, Oval, Camberwell, Peckham and New Cross is already so busy what will it be like with less trains serving the area.
Traveling to Clapham Junction from Denmark Hill will be great for some journeys but getting into central London will be really hard now.
Why are they making it easier to reach one part of London only to cut off another part.
I love living in Camberwell but I may have to think of moving if I can’t easily get to the rest of London too.

By: Mr Thant

Mr Thant — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:58:52 +0000

Can’t agree with your comments re: Surrey Canal Road station. It would be in the middle of nowhere in an an area adequately served by several other stations. Spending millions on it* would be a complete waste of public money.

* The station site is on a bridge over a road, so TfL are right to say it would cost considerably more than the £7m the DfT were offering.

By: D-Notice

D-Notice — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:28:56 +0000

Tom

Of course that only would apply to people who work within the Liverpool St/Moorgate area.

Not sure if Bank/Blackfriars/Fenchurch St would be walkable from Shoreditch HS…

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:23:26 +0000

The most believable reason I’ve seen is that it’s to deter people from replacing Z1 seasons with Z2 seasons and walking the last 500m to the City – the DfT relies on income from the TOCs who sell Z1 seasons and are therefore keen on retaining this. That and the trains being only four cars.

By: Mark Lee

Mark Lee — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:44:18 +0000

The *whole* point of the ELL was to create an outer-suburban route. In cases where journey time savings are marginal or non-existant, people will not choose the ELL if there’s no financial benefit.

It may just be a dodge by TfL because they’re struggling to solve the “how do we tell which route someone took for their journey?” question for Oyster users facing via/avoiding Zone One options.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:27:50 +0000

Not aware of any. It does suggest that the ELL is seen by the DfT as a Thameslink-style cross-city line rather than an attempt to ‘orbitise’ the network, whatever Boris says.

Considering the capacity of the trains, however, it would be something of a tempting bargain to people heading for the City.

By: D-Notice

D-Notice — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:23:49 +0000

… not to forget Shoreditch HS now being zone 1 destroys the whole idea of what was initially an effective “zone 2 circle line”.

Do you know if any other stations gone from zone 2 to zone 1?

By: Going to north London? That’ll cost you double « 853

Going to north London? That’ll cost you double « 853 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:23:25 +0000

[...] from London Reconnections, Boris Watch and Brockley [...]