13 October (Part 1) - Trains chopped. (Not Tory Councillors this time)
I am not sure what motivated Bexley Labour to send a differently presented version of their
Press Release on the Southeastern railway cuts but overnight one arrived. (First
published here on 3rd October and old version deleted from
archive.)
Like every railway user they are “appalled” by the cuts to services on all three
of the borough’s railway lines made with no consultation whatsoever and still
without any publicity at railway stations. The Woolwich line peak hours Victoria
service hit the buffers many years ago but now Charing Cross is no longer at the
end of the line. Southeastern’s priority is not to use expensive sets of points
and if passengers are inconvenienced their reaction appears to be “tough, it’s what we do”.
Why else do London bound trains at Abbey Wood stop at the far end of Platform 1
and make last minute passenger arrivals run a third of the length of the
platform? (Because the driver’s departure screen is in the wrong place for
trains shorter than twelve cars.)
My occasional journey to Richmond is made more difficult and friends in Bexley
can no longer visit me via the loop line. Until Sadiq Khan runs their old diesel
Peugeot off the road next year they will have to further congest Bexley’s mean streets.
Then they will join the ranks of elderly people confined to barracks.
Bexley’s Labour Councillors are trying to save residents from such fates and seeking a meeting with Southeastern. What are Bexley
Conservatives doing? Nothing, while far too busy stabbing each other in the back.