Reinstating Evening Peak Trains

The Forest Hill Society have received confirmation from Southern that most of the evening peak services that were canceled in January will be reinstated in the May timetable change (16th May).

The following services will run again from May (in addition to the existing 2 trains per hour):
16:27
17:06
17:38
18:36

The 18:06 will NOT be reinstated, continuing to leave a 30 minute gap in the evening timetable.

We welcome the reinstatement of these services which might make our journeys home a little better than they have been for the last four months.

Transport Update

London Bridge Station UpdateBy David McKenzie (Chair, Transport Committee)
6th February, 2015

You will no doubt be aware of the difficulties and disruptions affecting services on the Southern rail network as a consequence of the rebuilding of London Bridge station. The good news is that the rebuilding work on the southern side of the station is mostly complete. The bad news is that there is still one line down at Bermondsey until 2017, which is causing performance issues. Over the last few weeks, it seems that performance has improved (although infrastructure reliability remains a concern). However, Forest Hill passengers have been severely affected by the emergency withdrawal of 50% of Southern’s services during the evening peak hours.

The Forest Hill Society has been putting great pressure on Southern and Network Rail to fully reinstate the frequency of services to Forest Hill — as well as to improve on-time performance resulting from timetable changes — and we are hopeful that this will soon happen. We believe the Society is very effective at having its voice heard by Southern: for example, when it was announced that the 08:31 to London Bridge would be withdrawn starting in January, we successfully pressed for the 08:21 and 08:42 services to be consistently formed of 10 coaches, which is the maximum length possible that can be accommodated at Forest Hill station.


Our Response to London TravelWatch's London Overground Research Paper
By David McKenzie (Chair, Transport Committee)

On 31st October 2014, London TravelWatch published a research paper entitled ‘Value for money on London Overground — what passengers think’.* As a whole, the Forest Hill Society welcomes the recommendations in the paper. Key recommendations directly affecting Forest Hill are to:
• Upgrade London Overground ticket vending machines to allow the direct purchase of tickets to London Underground and DLR stations
• Eliminate gaps in the timetable to provide a ‘turn up and go’ timetable from first-to-last train on all days of the week
• Investigate the feasibility of providing extended canopies at busy stations
• Improve the amount and quality of information given to passengers, particularly in times of disruption and where multiple operators serve the same station

The Forest Hill Society will be especially pushing for the elimination of gaps in the timetable — particularly during the late-night service, which is quickly becoming sporadic and overcrowded. We would like to see the last Overground trains running as late as the last Southern trains (00:36 from London Bridge) or even later on Friday and Saturday nights in order to connect with the last Jubilee line trains at Canada Water (currently, the last southbound service to Forest Hill departs from Canada Water at 23:55).

On information provision, the Society attended a recent Lewisham Transport Liaison Committee meeting and pushed for a resolution to the issue of screens and announcements at Forest Hill station no longer stating the length of trains — this is particularly useful information when Southern services run with fewer coaches than expected.

* For the full article, visit www.londontravelwatch.org.uk. London TravelWatch is the passenger watchdog for all London transport users and is currently chaired by Stephen Locke, a resident of Honor Oak.



24-hour Overground in 2017?
By Michael Abrahams (Chair, Forest Hill Society)

In February, Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced that 24-hour services on the London Overground's East London Line will begin in 2017. However, these expanded night-time services would run only on Friday and Saturday nights.

While this is definitely a welcomed enhancement to services for South London, these services are only planned to cover the Overground section betwen Highbury & Islington and New Cross Gate. We believe that these services should continue further south to Crystal Palace or West Croydon all night, or at least until 2am. Over the next couple of years, we will be asking for serious consideration to be given to running these late-night trains as late as possible south of New Cross Gate.

Improvements to Rail Replacement Bus Services

Over the Christmas period there will be massive disruption to train services through Forest Hill.

London Bridge station will not be serviced by Southern trains from 20th December until 4th January.
Overground will be operating an increased service with at least 4 extra trains per hour operating to/from Crystal Palace, rather than New Cross. Southern tickets will be valid on suitable Overground routes.

No services will operate through Forest Hill between Thursday 25th and Sunday 28th December.

On 27th and 28th December there will be a replacement bus service operated by Southern to London Bridge. As a result of lobbying by Forest Hill Society this replacement bus service will be increased from 4 buses per hour to 10 buses per hour (6 buses to/from London Bridge and an additional 4 to/from New Cross Gate). LOROL are providing an additional bus service between New Cross Gate / New Cross and Canada Water for passengers for the Jubilee Line.

However, passengers from Forest Hill/Honor Oak Park should consider if other routes would be better for them. There are frequent bus services to Waterloo on the 176 and 172, to Blackfriars on the 63, and the Catford Bridge, Catford and Crofton Park train services should be running a normal service.

More advice from TfL regarding the December works can be found at:

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/london-bridge-rail-station/december-2014-travel

Beyond this, from 12th January 2015, there will be no SouthEastern services calling at London Bridge (they will run 'fast' to/from Waterloo East). Interchange at London Bridge to the Jubilee line will be possible for journeys to Waterloo, Southwark, and Charing Cross. We are awaiting confirmation regarding changing at Canada Water on Southern tickets for access to these stations (at present this would not appear to be a permitted route, but will they really stop us?)

TfL’s Consultation to close on 7th December 2014 for Proposed Bakerloo Line Extension

For many years, the Forest Hill Society has advocated an extension to the Bakerloo line into South East London; and, in autumn 2014, Transport for London opened a consultation to get opinions about possible extensions.

TfL are essentially consulting on two routes, both of which go through New Cross Gate and Lewisham. The first route goes from the Elephant and Castle, down the Old Kent Road to New Cross Gate, and continues to Lewisham. The second route goes underground from the Elephant and Castle to Camberwell and then on to Peckham Rye, before heading up to New Cross Gate and Lewisham. Both of these routes would go underground rather than making use of existing, above-ground railway lines.

Beyond Lewisham there is the possibility of joining up with the existing Catford Bridge line and taking over the tracks that run to Hayes and Beckenham Junction. There is also an additional option to tunnel from Beckenham to Bromley’s town centre.

But don’t get too excited yet. Any extension would take years to build and would be unlikely to start before 2023. Consequently, the new line would not be expected to be operational until some time in the 2030s. This may seem like an awfully long time away but at least the ideas are being discussed, and this makes an extension more likely than it has been at any time since the 1930s or 1940s, when it was first proposed!

So what’s in it for Forest Hill?
Clearly, the proposed routes do not come to Forest Hill. However, a route between Catford and Lower Sydenham is just on the edge of SE23 and if it was chosen we would lobby for a new station at Bell Green, which is a more suitable transport hub than Lower Sydenham. Peckham Rye is also not particularly far from the edge of SE23. Importantly, we would also have the option to change at New Cross Gate for faster routes to Waterloo, Charing Cross, and Paddington. This would be in addition to our links to London Bridge, Victoria, Canada Water, and the new Crossrail interchange at Whitechapel (which would probably provide a faster interchange to the West End, Paddington, and Heathrow).

Most importantly, a Bakerloo line extension should provide additional capacity to South East London’s over-stretched services, which are expected to be even busier in 2030.

Haven’t we heard all of this before?
There were plans for a southern extension to the Bakerloo line in 1931, 1947, the 1950s, and the 1970s but in the last 10 years the wisdom of the Bakerloo line extension has been gaining traction with transport planners across London. The introduction of the Old Kent Road as an area that could see massive regeneration, and funding from such a project at least partially funding the extension (as with the Battersea extension of the Northern line), makes this proposal even more cost effective than had already been recognised.

In addition, the Bakerloo line, just like the East London line 10 years ago, is the tube line that is most in need of modernisation, with very old rolling stock needing to be replaced in the next decade or two. Building an extension line and completely revamping the signalling and rolling stock as part of the same project makes sense, so there is a window of opportunity that has been recognised.

Alternative proposals
What has not been considered in the current consultation are other possible routes including a much longer tunnel that could take the tube further into South East London. Every area of South London thinks that the Bakerloo line should run close to them: proposals have been made to take the line to Streatham, Camberwell/Herne Hill, Greenwich, Honor Oak Park or even through Forest Hill.

The idea of tunnelling further out (for example, under Honor Oak), rather than taking over existing train lines, is a good idea but is likely to lead to a further delay in the programme while funding is fought over.

Unfortunately, none of these proposals are likely to be able to compete for the funding that will result from the regeneration of the Old Kent Road. For this reason, most people in South East London (including the Forest Hill Society) are now getting behind the proposed Lewisham extension; and there is a growing feeling that this part of the project should be pushed forward as soon as possible, with any further extensions to Catford and Hayes coming as a second phase, if necessary.

TfL’s Consultation closes on 7th December, so we would urge you to respond quickly and make your views known!

Five-carriage Trains on The Overground

From the beginning of December 2014, we are likely to see some of the first five-carriage trains on the Overground rail network appearing on Crystal Palace routes. During 2015, all trains will be gradually upgraded to five carriages, with an existing train being converted every two weeks.

This is great news for passengers on the Overground line, and will help to provide some of the additional capacity that is needed as a result of the changes being made at London Bridge station. We have previously reported that there will be no interchange at London Bridge for trains to Charing Cross for 18 months; in fact, transfers between Southern and SouthEastern networks is likely to involve walking via the Underground station when work starts on the redevelopment of platforms 6-8. However, tickets to London stations will be valid on Underground routes from London Bridge to Waterloo and Charing Cross stations.

We have found out that two trains will be removed from the morning timetable from Forest Hill to London Bridge: the 06:50 and the 08:31. Unfortunately, this will leave a couple of gaps in the timetable.

Please note that there will be no Southern services to or from London Bridge between Saturday, 20th December 2014 and Friday, 2nd January 2015.

All Change at London Bridge

2015 will be a challenging year for many commuters who use London Bridge on a daily basis. From mid-December 2014 most SouthEastern and Thameslink trains will not stop at London Bridge. SouthEastern trains to Cannon Street will continue to stop at London Bridge for 18 months, and then the situation will switch so that the Charing Cross trains will stop at London Bridge, but not the Cannon Street trains.

Southern trains will continue to terminate at London Bridge but there will be no interchange with trains to Waterloo and Charing Cross.

As a slight compensation for this loss of connection we will be getting longer trains on Overground, with 5 carriage trains (that's one additional carriage) being phased in from December 2014.

The train operators have told us that tickets will be valid on any reasonable route. The Jubilee line runs to Southwark, Waterloo, and from there the Northern and Bakerloo lines run to Charing Cross. This does mean that the Jubilee line is going to be exceptionally busy for more than a year, but this is the cost of major improvements to London Bridge and future interchange.

While we suffer through the rebuilding and diversions, we can look forward to 2019 when connections at London Bridge via Thameslink will make crossing London a little bit easier. The Thameslink programme is also expected to double the number of trains using Crofton Park, with 4 trains per hour expected to stop there.

More needs to be done to improve train services in Forest Hill and the Mayor of London has recently published a 25 year plan for transport. We will examine some of the ideas in that document in the next edition of the newsletter.

February Newsletter: East London Line News

Transport for London have announced plans to extend the lengths of platforms at some of the stations in the core section of the East London Line. This includes Shoreditch, Shadwell, Wapping, Canada Water and Surrey Quays all of which currently only have platform lengths for four carriages (Rotherhithe is not on the list). With the extension of trains to five carriages in December 2014 these platform extensions will avoid selective door opening at these stations.

The Forest Hill Society is continuing to campaign for extra Crystal Palace trains on the East London Line. There is space in the timetable for two additional trains per hour and although these trains were not included in the announcement from the Comprehensive Spending Review, we hope that at some point these additional trains will be commissioned by TfL.

Additional trains to Crystal Palace would improve frequency and further increase capacity on the East London Line. This would be particularly useful while London Bridge is being rebuilt, and would provide more capacity as the East London Line continues to gain in popularity, especially with the Crossrail interchange at Whitechapel.

Transport Update

The refurbishment work in the Forest Hill Subway is now almost complete. Walls are painted, panelling in place, steps improved and the guttering is massively improved. But users of the subway will have noticed gaps in the panelling between the lights as the work is not yet finished.

We are expecting Skanska to complete the installation of new lighting in the subway in July and then the final panelling can be put in place with improved lighting.

In the last edition we reported that as well as extra carriages on the East London Line trains (five carriages rather than four), there  would also be additional trains to Crystal Palace. This was based on a draft Business Plan produced by Transport for London in December. However, since that time it has become clear that although orders have been placed for the additional carriages, the extra trains may not be in the immediate plan for capacity improvements.

The timetable for the East London Line has been built with two gaps where additional services could be squeezed in every hour, giving us 10 trains to Canada Water rather then the current 8 trains, as well as the 6 trains to London Bridge at peak and 4 off-peak.

The Forest Hill Society believes that demand for East London Line trains justifies the increase in services as well as the lengthening of trains.

We are also concerned about recent rumours regarding the availability of trains in 2015-2016, while the Thameslink work takes place. It is possibly that this may include a year with no weekend services to London Bridge or Victoria, as well as some other cuts to services during weekdays. If true, these cancellations would place a huge strain on the East London Line, especially if additional trains are not being provided.
We will be pressing for the minimum reduction of service possible and some imaginative solutions to any reduction to capacity on the line to London Bridge. We know this is not just a problem that worries us but it also worries rail operators.

We will keep you informed of developments as details become available.

In other developments, Boris Johnson has started making more positive noises about a possible extension to the Bakerloo line. This issue was raised by Forest Hill Society vice chairman, Michael Abrahams, at People’s Question Time when Boris was in Catford.

Lewisham have already produce a viability report which prefers a route via the Old Kent Road to Lewisham, Catford, and possibly beyond. It now looks like TfL will be producing a report of their own to look at the economic benefit of the Bakerloo line extension and other transport enhancements in South East London.

At a time when the government is being encouraged to spend money on infrastructure projects, the Bakerloo line is one that makes economic sense to develop as soon as possible. It would be a boost to London’s economy and would benefit South East London for decades to come.

East London Line Trains Set to Increase Capacity

In December TfL announced their plans for the next few years for improving transport in the capital. One of the major successes of the last decade has been the Overground service, particularly on the East London Line (ELL). Already trains are very crowded especially at peak times, and forecasts show that more people will be using this service in the coming years.

So TfL has taken the sensible decision to increase capacity on the East London Line and have two plans that will together increase capacity by over 50%. The first plan is to increase train lengths on all ELL services from four carriages to five carriages. This will involve selective door opening at a few stations close to the Thames but will give all the trains an extra 25% capacity.

The second plan is to run two additional services on our line, probably from Crystal Palace. This will increase the number of ELL trains through Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park from 8 trains per hour up to 10 trains per hour. Once again this increases capacity by another 25%, taking the overall increase to 56%. There are slots available in the timetable so it should be possible to run these additional services without impacting the existing Southern service to London Bridge. We have also received assurances from Southern Railway that there are no plans to reduce services due to the Thameslink works at London Bridge.

The timetable for the increase in capacity is not completely clear yet but it looks like they will be delivering the additional services in 2014/2015, at the same time as the connection between London Bridge and Charing Cross is temporarily suspended to allow for the Thameslink work to go ahead. This is likely to lead to a temporary jump in demand for ELL services connecting to the Jubliee line. So services are likely to be extremely busy on the ELL for the next few years but it is worth recognising that TfL are planning the right enhancements to increase the capacity on these services.

Station News

There are a number of pieces of news which our rail travelling members will be interested in.

1. The station building has been repaired following the ram raid on the ATMs in June. The hoardings will be removed once the new ATMs have been installed.

2. TfL recently published their ten year business plan. The good news is that the Overground fleet of trains will be extended to 5 cars each by 2016, increasing capacity by 25%. However, this will require selective door opening at some stations (including Canada Water) as the platform is not long enough.

   There will also be two extra trains each hour from Crystal Palace, meaning a total increase in capacity of over 50%, which will be welcome news.

3. London Overground passengers are now able to access a free WiFi service at our local stations under a contract between public WiFi provider, The Cloud, and TfL. Passengers will be allowed 60 minutes of free internet access per day at every London Overground station at no cost to the fare or taxpayer.

   Passengers will have 60 minutes’ free internet access each day at each station through a one-time registration process available at all 56 London Overground-operated stations. WiFi access will be available in the immediate vicinity of stations.

   Steve Murphy, Managing Director of London Overground Rail Operations Limited, said: “Access to the internet is no longer limited solely to home or to the workplace, and people’s expectation is to be able to work and communicate effectively and seamlessly while they’re on the move so we’re delighted to support this initiative which will bring reliable, free WiFi to London Overground’s customers.”

Thameslink Franchise

The Forest Hill Society has submitted a response to the combined Thameslink and Southern Franchise document provided by the Department for Transport.

Summary of Our Recommendations

1.                 Thameslink stopping service on the Sydenham corridor as outlined in the 2007 Route Utilisation Strategy.

2.                 Continued connections from Forest Hill to East Croydon.
3.                 Plans for the introduction of 12 carriage trains on the Sydenham corridor.
4.                 Minimum services frequencies of 4 trains per hour at Crofton Park.
5.                 Inclusion of minimum specification for off-peak services, including maximising the central Thameslink corridor beyond the primary Thameslink routes.

Full submission can be read at http://www.freewebs.com/foresthill/Thameslink%20Franchise.pdf

Thameslink Extension - Good or Bad?

From 2019 the Thameslink extension will greatly improve services from London Bridge to Kings Cross and beyond. How will this affect us? Today developments can be seen above Borough Market where a new viaduct is being constructed to relieve congestion on this section of tracks.

In 2008 the South London Route Utilisation Strategy recommended that Thameslink services should stop at Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill and other stations on our line, replacing 4 out of 6 of our existing peak services. This gave us hope of a direct trains to Kings Cross, possibly all the way to Bedford.

However, Network Rail and the Department for Transport no longer appear to favour Thameslink services stopping at Forest Hill. Although no final decision has been made, all reference to stations between New Cross Gate and Norwood Junction has been removed from information about the Thameslink upgrade programme and renewing franchises. Without public consultation a decision may have been made.

Commuters and/or passengers would still be able to benefit from increased interchange opportunities at London Bridge after 2019, which should improve journey times to Kings Cross and other parts of the City. However we are not sure if there will continue to be any direct services to East Croydon, or if all the East Croydon trains will be fast to London Bridge, possibly with a stop at Norwood Junction. We already have some trains via East Croydon and these are very useful for passengers heading to Gatwick Airport, an additional change at Norwood Junction as well as East Croydon would increase the inconvenience for many people on our line.

In the short term there is a threat that services into London Bridge may be reduced in frequency, with more 10 carriage trains to partially compensate. The reason for this is the rebuild of London Bridge Station. As a result there will be fewer terminating platforms, particularly during the redevelopment. Previously the suggestion in the Route Utilisation Strategy was that the Forest Hill services should be extended to 12 carriages and reduced to four trains per hour (even in the morning peak). Since then some of our Southern trains have been extended to 10 carriages but many still run with 8 or less during peak times. Evening services have already been cut back to four p/h, although there are six p/h in the morning.

Perhaps we shouldn't complain too much... We have more trains to more destinations. This year we started to get longer trains - up to 10 carriages, and it seems increasingly likely that East London Line trains will be increased from four to five carriages. Our services are now slightly less crowded. Lifts are planned for Honor Oak Park.

But it does seem that ignoring Forest Hill from the Thameslink programme is a missed opportunity. Instead of increasing direct destinations for an area of South London, the Thameslink trains will only directly benefit the Home Counties. We should probably be thankful that the old Thameslink carriages (with little legroom) may be distributed to our line to increase the length of our trains.

THE SOCIETY’S VIEW
* We would like to see Thameslink trains serving our community directly;
* We value the direct connection to East Croydon;
* We strongly oppose any permanent loss of service and are concerned at any temporary loss of service, due to the inconvenience that this will cause;
* If Thameslink trains don't call at Forest Hill then there is even more reason for reinstating the late evening and weekend Charing Cross service;
* We would like to see more trains in peak hours extended to 10 carriages with further consideration to 12 carriage trains as demand dictates.

NEW TRAIN SERVICES, FULL STEAM AHEAD?

Michael Abrahams, from our transport sub-committee, explains how three major rail projects that are already in hand, and a fourth under consideration, could affect us.


Crossrail (see right) will provide fast connections in an East-West direction across central London. For passengers from Forest Hill the interchange at Whitechapel (on the East London Line) will provide good connections to the West End, Paddington, West London and Heathrow.
Thameslink trains are expected to run a stopping service including our stations, allowing direct travel to Blackfriars, Kings Cross, and further north. This could be a half-hourly service during morning peak, extending two existing services into London Bridge.

DLR recently published a map (see below) showing proposed extensions to the East (to Dagenham), to the West (Victoria and Euston), and to the South (Catford and, taking us by surprise, Forest Hill).

The configuration of railway tracks and roads South of Lewisham is a challenge, beyond Catford is more problematic - elevated above or underneath the South Circular, or through houses.
Another option may be terminating at Bell Green rather than Forest Hill, which could be part of the regeneration of the area. We are already well served for Canary Wharf and beyond.

Finally, the East London Line phase 2 project is an important new service for Southwark residents, complimenting phase 1 taking us to Canada Water, Shoreditch, and now Highbury & Islington.

Michael will be explaining how we hope to influence the Bakerloo line extension in our next edition.

Route Utilisation Strategy Response

Network Rail are consulting over development of rail services beyond 2019 in their Route Utilisation Strategy for London and the South East.

Issues for consideration:

• 12 carriage trains on the Sydenham line into London Bridge
• Improved numbers of evening peak services on the Sydenham Line
• Increased frequency of services on the Crofton Park route
• Increased utilisation of the central platforms at New Cross Gate
• Integration of Bakerloo line extension options into the London and South East RUS (with interchange on the Sydenham line)
  
• Additional carriages on the East London Line
• Late evening and weekend services from central London termini

You can read the full Forest Hill Society Response here.

Transport Upgrades in 2011

We have recently heard from Caroline Pigeon that the Jubilee line upgrade (which was supposed to be delivered in December 2009 before the ELL reopened) will now be delivered this spring. When complete, the new system will enable London Underground to run more trains on the Jubilee line, increasing capacity by 33 per cent and cutting journey times by around 22 percent.

London Rail also informs us that work was undertaken over the festive period on the new extension to the Overground service between Dalston Junction and Highbury & Islington. Signalling systems and High Voltage Power systems were successfully commissioned, in advance of successfully running the first test train at the end of last week. The project is progressing well and is expected to open on schedule in spring 2011, with a 'soft start' expected at the end of February. Once the service is up and running, all the Overground trains from Forest Hill will run to/from Highbury & Islington at the northern end of their route instead of Dalston Junction. (The New Cross services will continue to run between New Cross and Dalston Junction)

The final phase of the East London Line upgrade (ELLX2 from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction) will not now be delivered before the Olympics in 2012. The original timetable for development had aimed for a May 2012 opening, but TfL have confirmed that this has now slipped and it will be the end of 2012 before we see the extension opened, as the timescales for the project were pushed back pending the outcome of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review. TfL have also had to take account of the restrictions on construction work being carried out before and during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which have also affected the programme.

Timetable Changes

No need to rush - there'll be another in a minute

From December 12th, we’re getting two additional trains at 17:24 and 18:24 from London Bridge to Honor Oak Park and Forest Hill.  Unfortunately, the slot for these trains is just three minutes after the previous Forest Hill train so it will make little difference to waiting times.  However, it does mean that if you want to make sure you get a seat, then these are excellent trains to aim for because there should be plenty of room on board!

There will also be a later train from Dalston Junction to New Cross Gate which is timed to coincide with the last Southern train from London Bridge (leaving Dalston Juncion at 00:15, Canada Water at 00:31) and in May 2011, all overground trains from Crystal Palace and West Croydon will continue to Highbury & Islington.

Getting Around

The Overground has become a regular part of many people’s everyday commute from SE23. The air conditioning now seems to work and the service is reliable – but the trains are already packed to capacity in the morning rush hour. We’ve asked Transport for London for load numbers and will be interested to hear how they propose to provide more capacity.

For the moment, we are happy that there appears to be adequate capacity to and from London Bridge on Southern but we will be continuing to monitor the situation.

The success of the Overground has increased the parking problems around both Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park and we will be working with Lewisham Council and residents to see what, if anything, can be done about this.

Lewisham Council accept that the changes made in Sydenham Rise haven’t pleased everybody. There has been displacement of car parking to other less suitable locations, and the coaches that were parking there have moved to a more residential area. In the long term, the solution is to provide a proper footpath on the park side of the road which would prevent visitors to the Museum and the Park having to struggle on an uneven and overgrown surface and the bus build out could be removed. More parking could then be provided without causing an obstruction to the road or compromising pedestrian safety. It is not clear that this option was properly investigated before the changes were made to Sydenham Rise and funding constraints mean that such major changes are not likely to happen soon. However, the Council are investigating whether the yellow lines above the bus build out could be reduced to provide about three more parking spaces and will be pressing TfL to review the pedestrian crossing at the junction with London Road. No major changes are likely in Sydenham Rise in the near future.

TfL has rejected our suggestion that traffic flow on the A205 might be improved by restricting right turns into and out of Devonshire Road. We will, however, be looking at the problems caused by traffic queuing to turn right to get to Perry Vale. A better right turn lane might help here.
Sometimes a relatively simple change makes a big improvement to local transport. A suggestion by a local resident has resulted in the northbound 356 bus stopping at Forest Hill Station. Previously it didn’t stop between Perry Vale and Wetherspoon’s.

If you have any suggestions that you would like the Forest Hill Society to pursue on your behalf, please email andrew@foresthillsociety.com

DfT Replies to Petition

We have received a disappointing reply from the Department of Transport acknowledging our petition. Few of our concerns have been addressed and rather than providing the leadership we called for, the DfT will merely 'not stand in the way of the operators'.

A fuller rebuttal will follow in due course.

Train Services on the Sydenham Corridor

Thank you for your letter and petition of 23rd March 2010 to Chris Mole MP regarding changes to train services on the Sydenham corridor. I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department of Transport.

As the Minister stated in the recent Parliamentary Debate on this issue, any changes to train services, however small, are often unpopular but he restated the view that overall the package of changes to be introduced this May will significantly enhance the service provided in this area of South East London.

When discussing these changes it is important that both East London Line and Southern services are considered together. The provision of an extra 8 East London Line trains an hour on this route, and the improved interchange opportunities this will bring will significantly alter the demand patterns seen today.

From most stations on the route train frequencies will double with many stations receiving 14 trains per hour in the morning peak compared to 6 or 7 today. This will reduce demand levels on existing services to London Bridge.

It will take some time for demand patterns to stabilise after the new services are introduced as passengers alter their travel habits to take account of the new journey opportunities that the line will bring.

We expect the ability to easily interchange with the Jubilee line at Canada Water to significantly alter current demand patterns. It is also very unlikely that the suppressed demand that you refer to from the RUS will emerge straight away. Such demand would normally materialise over a number of years that would accord with the extra train capacity delivered by 10 car trains that are to be introduced in 2012.

You raise a number of other points and I will seek to address each in turn

Charing Cross Services

As you are aware the withdrawal of late evening services to Charing Cross was necessitated by the complete rewrite of the Southeastern timetable as a result of the introduction of High Speed Services. Timetable planners at Network Rail, Southeaster, Southern, First Capital Connect and London Overground attempted for a number of years to develop a timetable that allowed these services to continue to operate, but it was not possible to find appropriate train paths that would allow these services to continue.

If in the future a way of timetabling these services to Charing Cross can be found the Department of Transport would not stand in the way of the operators of doing this.

However it is also important to note that the Jubilee line serves large areas of the West End and passengers may choose to travel via Canada Water interchanging with the 8 trains per hour service toward Sydenham.

Sydenham Services and the East London Line

As stated earlier it is important that the combined Southern and East London Line timetables are looked at together, alongside the improved interchange opportunities that the East London Line will offer.

We expect journey patterns in this part of London to alter significantly when extended East London Line services are introduced. For example passengers travelling to Canary Wharf from Sydenham are likely to travel via Canary Wharf [sic] rather than London Bridge, especially as the journey will be cheaper (avoiding Zone One). For passengers travelling to other stations on the Jubilee line we expect the significantly quicker interchange at Canada Water will mean a number of passengers will divert via this route. Other similar changes are also likely.

Given this we expect a reduction in the number of passengers using London Bridge services.

You suggest that Southern are reducing capacity from London Bridge in the evening peak. Southern will be operating the same number of services from London Bridge although two of those trains will operate fast from London Bridge to Norwood Junction. This has been necessitated by the difficulties in timetabling East London Line and Southern services together on the corridor. For passengers travelling to Norwood Junction and West Croydon we expect these faster services to be an attractive option and many passengers to use these fast trains, reducing demand levels on the remaining 4 slow line services.

Again this timetable has taken a number of years to develop and has involved Network Rail, Southern, First Capital Connect and London Overground. However, it has not proved possible to match all the available paths from London Bridge with those on the East London Line and through key bottlenecks such as Windmill Bridge junction.

We believe that a combination of

• Some Norwood Junction (and beyond) passengers diverting to 'fast line' services
• Some West End and most Canary Wharf passengers diverting to East London Line services via Canada Water
• Additional East London Line services south of New Cross Gate

will reduce demand on evening peak Southern services from London Bridge.

The combined evening peak capacity on the 'slow lines' south of New Cross Gate will increase by around one third when the new timetable is introduced.

Southern are committed to keep this situation under review after the introduction of the new services and officials will liaise with Southern and London Overground on demand levels later this year. Again demand patterns on the revised services will take some time to stabilise as people try out the new journey opportunities.

If additional services or stops can be accommodated within the timetable in future the Department would not stand in the way of these being introduced.

Platform Lengthening

Network Rail are committed to a programme of platform lengthening on the Sydenham route (and across South London) that will allow trains with 25% more capacity - an additional 2 carriages - to stop at all station son the corridor, with works to be completed by 2012, in advance of the start of planned works at London Bridge.

Yours sincerely,
Matthew Lodge, Franchise Sponsor

Oyster PAYG Explained

Oyster is now valid on the trains as well as the tube, buses and trams, which is great news. Indeed an additional 500,000 journeys have been made using Oyster Pay as You Go every week on the National Rail network since 2 January. However, there have been a few teething problems, with a lack of Oyster readers at the local stations and some people have been over charged for their train journeys due to problems touching in and out.

At the moment you cannot buy an Oyster card at the station. LOROL (the people who operate Forest Hill station for TfL) are supposed to be upgrading the ticket counter machines by April so that they will be able to sell PAYG Oyster cards and weekly Travelcards on Oyster, but the machines will not be able to register new Oyster cards so you will not be able to buy Monthly or Annual season Travelcards on a new Oyster card. It is unclear whether you will be able to buy a Monthly or Annual Travelcard on a previously registered Oyster Card

In a series of posts, we will explain how things should work (below), how they may go wrong, how to get the cheapest fare and how daily price capping works.

So how should it work?

An Oyster card can hold a maximum of three Travelcards and £90 pay as you go credit on it. You can also add your Disabled Persons, HM Forces, Senior or 16-25 Railcard if you are eligible.

Bus and tram journeys are charged at £1.20 for adults or 60p if you are entitled to the 16+, New Deal or Bus & Tram Discount fare. You are charged when you touch-in on the Oyster reader. The amount deducted and the remaining balance are displayed on the reader when you touch in. There is no need to touch out when using buses or trams. The Bus & Tram Discount scheme is available to help Londoners on Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance and those who have been receiving Jobseeker's Allowance for a minimum of 13 weeks.

When travelling by tube, train or DLR using Oyster PAYG, you need to touch in at the start AND end of your journey. When you touch in, an entry charge is deducted from your Oyster card. This is known as the “maximum fare” which is currently £6 (peak) and £4.30 (off peak) within Zones 1-6. When you touch out at the end of your journey, the correct fare for your journey is calculated
and your PAYG balance is adjusted as appropriate.

You only need sufficient credit on your Oyster card to pay the minimum fare when touching in. In other words, your Oyster PAYG can go overdrawn but it will disable any Travelcard you may have on it until the PAYG balance is back in credit.

If you have a Travelcard on your Oyster, you will want to know how to combine your Oyster with PAYG

Oyster PAYG - What is the cheapest fare?

The Off Peak Day Return which used to be available on the trains has been discontinued with the introduction of Oyster PAYG. You can still buy a paper ticket, and we have tried to work out the various costs for you. There is still some confusion as to what fares will be charged for the East London Line, but at the moment, it looks as though we will be charged TfL rates for stations served by the ELL.

TfL have taken advantage of the flexibility of Oyster to introduce an evening peak period. As a result, the Peak Fare now applies Monday-Friday 0630-0930 and 1600-1900. Off-Peak fares are charged at all other times and on Public Holidays. The fare will be determined by the time the Oyster card is touched in, rather than the time of departure of the train, so be careful when travelling around 0930, 1600 or 1900.

As can be seen from the table below, the cheapest fare currently available is with a Gold Card discount followed by Oyster, with cash fares (Paper tickets) being the most expensive single fare.

Journey	Oyster Peak	Oyster Off-Peak	Paper Single	Gold Card Single	Paper Return	Gold Card Return
Forest Hill – Underground 1-3	£3.70	£3.10	£5.10	£3.50	£8.60	£5.70
Forest Hill – London Bridge	£2.60	£2.00	£3.10	£2.05	£5.30	£3.50
Forest Hill – Victoria	£2.60	£2.00	£3.10	£2.05	£5.30	£3.50
Forest Hill – New Cross Gate	£1.80	£1.50	£2.10	£1.15	£3.70	£1.90
Forest Hill – Honor Oak Park	£1.40	£1.30	£1.70	£1.15	£2.90	£2.90
Forest Hill – Norwood Junction	£1.80	£1.50	£2.10	£1.40	£3.70	£2.45
Forest Hill – West Croydon	£2.20	£1.70	£2.60	£1.70	£4.50	£2.95

If the fares switch to TfL's Zonal system when the East London Line starts operation, then these fares could be reduced by up to £1 (However, fares to Victoria and London Bridge might increase by 10p or 40p, but this is unclear at the moment).

Does Oyster have a One Day Travelcard?

Oyster cards work slightly differently from paper tickets. Instead of buying a One Day Travelcard in advance, with Oyster you simply touch in and out on all your journeys but the amount you are charged each day is capped to the equivalent Travelcard. However, be warned that if you fail to touch out then you will be charged the maximum fare for that journey and it will not count towards your daily cap.

If you only travel on buses and trams between 0430 one day and 0429 the next, then your charges will be capped at £3.90 for adults or £1.95 if you are entitled to the 16+, New Deal or Bus & Tram Discount fare.

When you travel on the tube, trains or DLR, then the daily price cap is the same price as an equivalent One Day Travelcard for adults and 16+. The child fare is capped at half the Adult fare for peak and £1 for off-peak. The current Adult caps are

Zones Covered	Peak	Off Peak
Travelcard 1-3, 1-4	£8.60	£6.30
Travelcard 2-6	£9.00	£5.10
Travelcard 1-6	£14.80	£7.50

Once you reach a cap, you must continue to touch your Oyster card on the card reader on every journey, to ensure you pay the correct fare for the zones you travel through. If you do not, you could be charged a maximum cash fare, a Penalty Fare or you may be prosecuted

However, the cheapest way to travel at the weekend or on Public Holidays is with a Network Railcard. This allows you to buy a Zone 1-6 Travelcard for only £5.00. The railcard itself costs £25 unless you are lucky enough to know someone with an Annual Gold card, in which case it will only cost £1.