Today I attended a summit with the Rail Minister, Network Rail, South Eastern Rail, Transport Focus and fellow MPs from Sussex, Kent and South London to discuss the issues facing commuters and rail users travelling to and from London. London Bridge is in the midst of an enormous redevelopment to increase capacity and the MPs were given an opportunity to view this vast project. This summit was a similar summit to that held in July with Southern which I also attended. Here is an overview of issues discussed:
- There will be a 10 day closure of London Bridge from Christmas Eve 8pm. There will be no trains coming into London Bridge or going beyond (so nothing going to Charing Cross and Cannon Street). Some trains will divert over to Victoria or Blackfriars. Commuters are about to be informed via a mass-marketing campaign to ensure that they are aware and can take action.
- A Performance Improvement Programme was set up in early 2015 and continues to operate to work across the Department of Transport, the train operators, London Bridge station management and Network Rail. Disruption from recent engineering works has been diminished and handovers have been undertaken on time this year. The problems from early 2015 have eased but the programme team meet daily to minimise the risk of repeat.
- Within London Bridge station, there is more visibility of staff and more information being displayed in the station for passengers. I asked if Transport for London are now informing tube customers at their first stop that London Bridge has major disruption. This was a huge frustration earlier this year. I was reassured that senior management have been brought in from TfL and this helps join the rail and tube communications closer together. In response to my question, the Transport Focus team informed me that only 17% of surveyed passengers knew of disruption to their rail journey before they left their home or office and this is something the industry needs to work on and, I was reassured, will work on.
- Passenger satisfaction (Jan to March) was discussed. The key indicators are (1) Overall Satisfaction (2) Punctuality and Reliability (the largest frustration to passengers) (3) How Company Dealt With Delays and (4) Passenger Satisfaction at London Bridge. All of the indicators had got worse. The first three indicators have now improved since the previous quarter but the fourth plummeted hence the Performance Improvement Programme was set up to make things better. The indicators need to further improve before getting back to the peaks from 2012. 'Right time performance' (i.e. trains arriving on time) has improved.
- Rail performance was discussed. There has been a recent improvement but not as great as expected. The actions taken to improve performance are around getting a better recovery time with more drivers on stand-by at Cannon Street. Track circuit and signalling reliability is being re-engineered. The timetables are being reviewed at Cannon Street. The stretch between Herne Hill and the Catford Loop is being evaluated for improved flows. The number of trespassers on the line is increasing and causes delays on a fortnightly basis.
- There has been a 30% growth in passenger numbers on the trains since 2010. The aim of the London Bridge development is to increase rail capacity and reduce overcrowding. There is a recognition of a need to incentivise spreading the start times of commuter journeys. A further increase of 7.4 million passenger journeys are expected over the next 3 years on South Eastern. The growth expectation on passenger numbers is 5% per year.
- Recognition of a need to improve signposting for compensation so passengers reclaim compensation for delayed journeys. South Eastern were pushed to bring in automatic compensation along the lines adopted in East Anglia (so without the need to fill in forms or wait for such a long delay before being entitled to claim).
- South Eastern are discussing an increase in their rolling stock. There is an opportunity for South Eastern to take retired Thameslink rolling stock and discussions taking place with the Department of Transport to assess if South Eastern can purchase this rolling stock. This initiative has only just commenced so a further update will be needed.