18 January (Part 1) - No Platformed
The Transport Sub-Committee is the only one I know
of that formally invites guests. One might say that train drivers, bus drivers
and cyclists are represented but not the far more common type of driver despised
by officialdom everywhere. It also listens to the views of children but not the
old buffers unless you count Councillor June Slaughter and me. Chairman
Cameron Smith always makes it clear that I can comment if I wish although I try
not to. If only there were more Councillors like Cameron. At this point I should probably
mention that I bumped into Cabinet Member Cafer Munur before joining Cameron and
Co. and he was as friendly as anyone might wish - except perhaps his boss.
It has already been mentioned that TfL and the Police in particular
do not
take the Transport meeting very seriously and this week the absentee level
reached 100%. Not a single one of the guests bothered to show up. Not even
George although to be fair he had an extremely good excuse. Something to do with
a successful coupling I think.
Southeastern however did not let George’s absence derail the meeting
and fielded a pretty good Rail Replacement Service in the shape of Damien Testa.
In contrast to the TfL representative who may have been a sleeper on a bus which
had run out of puff short of its destination, Damien was broadcasting from a railway carriage.
It may be a small point but it indicates some enthusiasm for his job. It may of
course also indicate that he is a dab hand at computer graphics but it looked
authentic enough to me.
If you
enlarge the accompanying photograph you will see that his name and position is
up in lights on the train information board. It has been suggested to me that
Southeastern is all talk and no action but the same source has also suggested that
the Metro lines should be taken over by TfL which might produce the interesting
side-effect of putting Bexley’s Transport Committee into terminal decline
with no one showing up at all.
As an aside I use Southeastern to London Bridge with much the same regularity as
the Overground from Liverpool Street to Chingford and I know which offers the
better service. (Admit it. If I called it the Weaver Line you wouldn’t know what
I was talking about would you? £6 million unnecessarily spent by the bogey man Mayor.)
And now the chore of listening to my muffled audio recording. Why are the acoustics in Room G08 so poor?
Mr. Testa said that the Government (the DfT) is prioritising improvements to performance and
reducing subsidies and taking Train Operating Companies back into public
ownership. This year Southeastern will be joined by South Western, C2C and Greater Anglia.
Southeastern has been getting busier although not yet to pre-Covid levels. It
saw 431,000 journeys on 5th December and got close to that on several days
since. Growth is more marked on long distance trains than in Metroland which is
probably down to the Elizabeth line effect. By the end of March it is likely
that 138 million journeys will have been made over the twelve months.
On punctuality Southeastern is at 85% on time within three minutes. The aim is
to get to 90% quite soon. Cancellations are only 2·3% which puts Southeastern in
9th place on the TOC league table and above them are companies which only run a
handful of specialist services per day so the score is really better than it
looks. Metroland is actually better for cancellations than the Southeastern network average.
As announced earlier in the week and
here last November the Class 376 trains are
to be refreshed with better lighting and USB sockets starting from next Summer
and the 707s will be retrofitted with accessible toilets. The first of thirteen 377
units arrived last November with the rest coming over the coming months. These are
almost new trains with air conditioning but it is
not very new news and
forecast by Murky Depths
almost a year ago.
On a technical note all the stations are being surveyed electronically so that
precise information on platform heights, curvature etc. will be available as
design data for new train manufacturers. A contract has been placed for new ticket vending
machines providing the full range of tickets.
ANPR is going into car parks at 37 stations including Bexley, Sidcup and
Crayford. Possibly operational by Spring and after listening to what its
customers were saying, will be capable of taking cash. Bexley and Bromley
Councils please note.
A charitable community fund with a budget of £125,000 in 2024/25 has been set up
with funds increasing threefold next year. It will be supporting around a dozen
projects this year and next including the Samaritans (understandable) and musical
activities (less so). The bids from charities etc. totalled more than £3 million so most will have been disappointed.
I should have remembered that 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of railways in
Britain and a number of commemorative events are planned.
https://railway200.co.uk.
From memory of the slide - so check before you go - there will be an event at
Charing Cross Station on 25th February to which the Fat Controller has been invited.
Councillor John Davey said that “the new trains are great” but they don’t go any
faster and almost said what’s the point. Mr. Testa held out no hope beyond
long drawn out journeys becoming a more comfortable experience. (Do I have to say again
that 35 years ago my journey home from work on slam door 40 year old stock
took 23
minutes and now it would be 32 minutes and fewer trains during peak hours?
How did they do it?)
Councillor Richard Diment said it was all very well quoting punctuality
statistics but the average masks some
extreme delays, commonly 20 minutes late into London on the Sidcup line
according to both his experience and his residents. “Good off peak performance
hides real problems in the peak period. What is being done to tackle the extreme
outliers?” (One Bexley Councillor has been keeping a diary from which he can
gauge the extent of the problem.)
Extreme weather and trespassers got the blame. Newer trains may help. Councillor Diment added that “Bexley residents make more
use of National Rail to get to work than any other London borough so it is
really important”. Mr. Testa signalled his intention to look into it.
Mr. Testa rounded off his presentation with a few interesting
points.
There are at least four trains an hour across all Metroland routes. Annual season ticket
sales which used to be the big earner have fallen off a cliff as travel moves
off-peak. 28 day tickets - use them when you like - have taken over from
monthlies. (It was implied this is main line services only.) At Abbey Wood four
out of five passengers entering the station head for the Elizabeth line and at
Woolwich - looking at the two stations as a whole - two out of five opt for the Lizzie.
There were no promises of timetable changes other than a reference to the
recently restored but limited loop line services but Southeastern is trying to get someone
at TfL to talk to them about “more integrated and seamless services”. It was at
this point that Councillor Diment made his plea for for the SL3 to serve Bexley
station. The answer was a forlorn “Well we can ask” following which the
Committee reiterated its own opinion of TfL.
As Mr. Testa coasted towards the buffers, his Network Rail colleague grabbed the Dead Man’s Handle and took control. More to follow.
With apologies for the lame railway puns.
Railway statistics. When I was a commuter into Waterloo in
the days of steam there was a signal box just a few yards beyond the end of the
terminus platform long since obliterated by the tracks installed for Eurostar. Trains
would belt up from Hampshire in 39 minutes and be held at that signal box for
several minutes until a platform could be found. The trains were timed in by the signaller and given five minutes grace. Given the wait for a platform a train
could easily be ten minutes late but still be marked on time. I remain a
sceptic. Last time I looked that steam hauled journey of 39 minutes - some were
43 - now takes a minimum of 54 minutes. They call it progress.