From 13 December 2009, SouthEastern are planning to cut the rail services on the Blackheath route without adequate public consultation. This was the subject of a lively debate at our AGM on 7 July, which was well attended by members. The BVRG is planning several leaflet drops at the station to raise awareness amongst commuters in the run up to the introduction of the new timetable, the first one of these being on Monday 19 October 2009 from 7.30am to 9am – anyone able to help with handing out leaflets to commuters please email us at bvrg@bvrg.org.uk as soon as possible for more details.

What will the cuts mean?

• Peak time between 8.00am and 9.01am: 50% cut in Cannon Street services, with three Cannon Street trains and one Charing Cross train being withdrawn
• No peak hour direct train service for commuters from stations along the Woolwich line to Blackheath and Lewisham
• More overcrowding on already busy trains
• Further changes to the evening peak service and the overall timetable

We believe this is the worst timetable for Blackheath commuters for at least 35 years and yet SouthEastern Trains is the only London train company to be allowed to raise fares next January.

How can you help?

SouthEastern have completely ignored the impact on local people. Please help us to get our train services back to an acceptable level.

1. Sign our online petition. This can be found at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Southeastern2

2. Join our Facebook group www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=134398160753

3. Email / write to the relevant people. Your objection does not need to be very detailed – in our experience, a couple of sentences will be enough and it’s the number of objections which can make a difference. A list of contact names and email addresses is published on our website – follow this link: http://news.bvrg.org.uk/blog1.php?blog=1&paged=8