Response to my email to Charles Horton - Govia Thameslink Railway

[BeadyBoo]

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with Charles and share your understandable concerns. He?s read your email and asked that I get back to you on his behalf.

As you?re aware, we started the revised timetable from today and it has to be said that we?re introducing this with reluctance, but we feel it?s the best thing we can do for our passengers who have been suffering far more than usual from frequent delays and cancellations. It should give the majority of our passengers a better, more consistent service around which they can actually make plans, rather than the random, often short-notice cancellations encountered over recent months.

The number of trains cancelled in the revised timetable will be generally be less than the number of unplanned cancellations from which we have been suffering, with the bulk of the train services being delivered when people need them most. This will be achieved by targeting available train crew to the busiest lines and times of day, and by minimising gaps between trains wherever possible. In both the morning and evening peaks Victoria services will maintain 95% capacity; at London Bridge, 86% and 84% of the morning and evening peak capacity respectively will be maintained.

This was not an easy decision, particularly when it came to choosing which services should be taken out as we knew that inevitably it would be a great inconvenience to some of our passengers, and we know that all services are busy in the peak hours. Having assessed the current service we concluded that the best way to manage the current situation was to make reductions where there are at least some other travel options.

In this area of London, buses can be used instead of trains and, depending on the station location, Tramlink, London Overground (not for holders of ?point-to-point? tickets), Thameslink and Southeastern can all provide alternatives. It may also be possible for passengers to access alternative stations which are served by other Southern services, for example Queens Road Peckham users may be able to go alternatively to New Cross Gate station by bus to pick up a Southern service to London Bridge.

We have worked with other operators in the area and Southern tickets will be accepted by them, for example London Buses will accept our tickets as follows:

- between Tulse Hill and West Norwood on routes 2, 432, 468, 68, and 196

- between Peckham Rye and Herne Hill via North Dulwich on route 37

- between Queens Road Peckham and New Cross Gate on routes 171, 177, 436 and 136

- Thameslink will accept Southern tickets ? its services operate from stations such as Tulse Hill or Herne Hill.

We will also have additional station staff in place to assist at our busy interchange station - Peckham Rye. Staff at other stations along the route will assist passengers with local information.

We hope this new timetable will allow passengers to better plan by knowing in advance what services should run. The service as a whole will be more robust, allowing us to recover the timetable faster when other problems do occur, such as signal failures. We will also run longer trains on many of the services that are running, and replacement bus services will be operation on routes where there is less train provision. Finally, this timetable is temporary and when we?re confident that the situation surrounding the non-availability of staff has been resolved, we?ll return to the full timetable.

During the amended timetable you?ll be able to claim compensation for delays against both the normal and adjusted timetable. As an example, if your train at 10:00 was taken out of the timetable and the amended train left at 10:30, you could claim compensation for a delay of 30 minutes in length. Further, if the 10:30 was itself delayed by 30 minutes, you could claim for a delay of 60 to 119 minutes. Please see the website for more information and don?t forget we also offer enhanced compensation:

http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/customer-services/delay-repay/

http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/customer-services/enhanced-compensation/

You may have also heard that more generous compensation was discussed at Government level recently and we are working with the Department for Transport as they consider the best way forward.

The plan will be closely monitored on a daily basis and if any amendments can be made, we will make any appropriate alteration as soon as possible.

I know how challenging the current situation has been for everyone involved, and I really can?t apologise enough for the disruption to your daily life. Please be assured that we are working extremely hard to resolve the underlying issues that have resulted in this change, so that we can restore the full timetable.

Thank you again for getting in touch.

Kind regards

James Ward

HQ Customer Relations

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR)

Email: [email protected]

[Earl Aelfheah]

If they cancel the last remaining train which is still timetabled to run every hour they'll have 100% reliability.