Many of you contact me about local rail services and I continue to press for improvements holding regular meetings with Southeastern's management team and I recently met with Mike Gibson, Southeastern's Public Affairs Manager.
The main issue discussed was over crowding on peak trains and I know from personal experience how busy some services are. While Southeastern has lengthened some trains, there has been no new rolling stock on this network for many years and additional trains are desperately needed. Surplus rolling stock will become available once new trains are delivered next year as part of the Thameslink programme and Southeastern has submitted a report to the Department for Transport calling for these to be allocated to lines here in South East London. I will be supporting this campaign and encouraging my parliamentary colleagues to do likewise.
Mike Gibson also briefed me on current developments and I'm pleased to report that a number of improvements I have been pressing for since my election are now being seriously considered or have been resolved.
On punctuality, it has improved on the Hayes line from 89% at the start of the year to 92.3% today. That still means a some trains are late and to address this, Southeastern and Network Rail (who is responsible for the majority of the delays) have agreed a joint performance improvement plan. You can find this on their website at www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/download/...3/joint-performance-plan/
The on-going Thameslink improvement works at London Bridge are a contributory factor to some delays as platform capacity is reduced at London Bridge meaning that some trains can no longer stop there. Once completed in mid 2018, , we will see a state of the art station at London Bridge and better punctuality, but I will continue to press Network Rail and Southeastern to keep disruption to a minimum.
Passengers who are delayed by 30 minutes or more are entitled to compensation, and I'm happy to say that Southeastern has now agreed to give passengers the option of a cheque or rail travel vouchers as the latter may not be much use to occasional travellers.
I am also pleased to tell you that Southeastern has now introduced a priority seating card for disabled passengers, the elderly and pregnant women. You can find full details on www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/your-journey/.../priority-seating/
To apply, contact Southeastern on telephone 01732 378 751, via twitter on @Se_Railway or through its website on www.southeasternrailway.co.uk Supporting evidence will obviously be required. The cards will be particularly useful for those with a disability that may not be visibly apparent.
With such a large number of rail users in the constituency, good services are a must and I will continue to push for improvements on your behalf.