BVRG members who signed the recent No 10 petition against the Dec 2009 rail cuts to Blackheath services will have received the following response from No 10. This is a disapointing result as the standard response has been churned out yet again.

Here is the response:

"The December 2009 timetable is based upon the specification detailed in Southeastern’s Franchise Agreement. This specification was the outcome of a consultation exercise carried out by the former Strategic Rail Authority in 2004. The specification included a requirement to operate an all day Orpington to London service via Lewisham.

Lewisham is an interchange with the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and there is a demand for more stops at stations offering DLR connections from growing numbers of passengers travelling on to Canary Wharf. Lewisham station is at maximum capacity during peak periods and the only way for the specification for more peak DLR connecting services to be achieved was for some services to be re-routed away from Lewisham to the Greenwich line. Southeastern’s study of the routing options looked at all the routes which serve Lewisham, and the only trains which could be re-routed away were the North Kent semi fast trains from Charlton, so the decision taken was for these trains to run via Greenwich.

This means that fewer morning peak London Bridge trains can stop at Blackheath. However, the new timetable is an improvement for Blackheath passengers commuting to Victoria and also for off peak passengers travelling to London who now see an increase from six to eight trains an hour.

The service specification for Blackheath has been consulted on with local stakeholders by Southeastern since 2006. Those who have been consulted include the former London Transport Users Committee (now London TravelWatch), Transport for London and the London boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham.

The December 2009 timetable changes will be reviewed by the Department for Transport and Southeastern. The review will monitor loadings, performance, connectivity and review how successful the overall implementation has been"

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BVRG will continue to press SET on the promised review and seek timetable improvements as soon as possible.