LATEST NEWS
NEXT MEETING - TUES 22 NOV
20.00 - SPITFIRE (Kings Hill)
Standing up for Kent commuters – the Second Kent Rail Summit
Kent County Council is standing up for Kent residents by holding a Second Kent Rail Summit. It will be hosted at County Hall in Maidstone on Thursday 21 October, Kent County Council Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste Nick Chard told Cabinet colleagues today. He said:
“Following the success of the first summit in bringing together rail user and community groups, businesses, MPs and councillors, our second summit will again highlight Kent's major rail issues and seek solutions.
“This is about standing up for the residents of Kent. Our aim is to bring together a report describing the long-term improvements to rail services we want to see for Kent. This will inform the investment and service plans of Southeastern, Network Rail and the Department for Transport as they prepare for the new Kent franchise in 2012/14.”
Mr Chard said in order to build on meetings with rail groups over the summer he would like to hear from residents and rail users about the broad improvements to local rail services that they are seeking.
All views and comments on services should be sent to nick.chard@kent.gov.uk by the end of September for inclusion in the Kent report.Southeastern’s Managing Director, Charles Horton, and the rail firm’s Service Delivery Director, Vince Lucas, will attend the Second Kent Rail Summit and enter the discussion around local priorities. Representatives of Network Rail, the Department for Transport and Passenger Focus have all been invited to attend the summit and participate in the wide-ranging discussion.
Southeastern Stakeholder Forum
Weds 5th May - 1800hrs
Clifford Room, Mermaid Theatre, Puddledock, London EC4 3DB
| invitation_0505101.doc |
LATEST PRESS
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2010-03-10b.100.1
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2010/march/11/trains_in_the_commons.aspx
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/01/14/yet-more-snow-brings-misery-and-travel-chaos-115875-21965543/
AND PLEASE CHECK OUT THE KEEP OUR TRAINS FACEBOOK PAGE
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&viewas=0&gid=69634896965
NEW PETITION TO REINSTATE THE ASHFORD TRAINS!!
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/AshfordTrains/
PLEASE CAN ALL SIGN USING THE LINK ABOVE
03/01/2010: Sir John Stanley wins ballot for House of Commons Debate
Sir John Stanley has finally been successful in the ballot for a House of Commons debate regarding the loss of these services.
Sir John said: "I shall be making the strongest case I can for the reinstatement of the rail services on the Maidstone East line into Cannon Street, Charing Cross and London Bridge."
The services will be discussed on Wednesday January 6 from 11 to 11.30am in Westminster Hall.
Please keep writing to Sir John and Chris Mole on how the loss of these services are affecting you.
Sir John said: "I shall be making the strongest case I can for the reinstatement of the rail services on the Maidstone East line into Cannon Street, Charing Cross and London Bridge."
The services will be discussed on Wednesday January 6 from 11 to 11.30am in Westminster Hall.
Please keep writing to Sir John and Chris Mole on how the loss of these services are affecting you.
| hansard_-_parliamentary_debate_060110.pdf |
09/12/2009: Reply from the MDRTA and MARUG to Chris Mole MP
Please find attached the official reply from the Malling District Rail Travellers Association (MDRTA) and the Maidstone Area Rail User Group (MARUG).
| 08_12_09_letter_to_chris_mole.pdf |
| rail_user_survey_report.pdf |
09/12/2009: DfT Finally Respond
On Friday 27th November Sir John Stanley and Ann Widdecombe received a letter from Chris Mole stating that there is simply no business case for the off peak services.
Please see attached a copy of the letter and I am sure you will all agree the response is not acceptable and indicates that the Minister has not looked at any of the information that we submitted in the rail usage report in August.
Please see attached a copy of the letter and I am sure you will all agree the response is not acceptable and indicates that the Minister has not looked at any of the information that we submitted in the rail usage report in August.
| chris_mole_reply_pg1.pdf |
| chris_mole_reply_pg2.pdf |
Now more than ever we need you to write to Chris Mole (address attached to Page 1) telling him how losing these services will affect you and your feelings to his response.
It is clear from his response that he has not read the report we submitted to him in August and that the information that he outlines (200-300 people travelling from Maidstone and the Malling area into the City and that the journey disbenefit by going into Victoria will only be 15-30 mins) is incorrect and grossly inaccruate.
In a letter from Sir John Stanley he outlined to me that the Minister claims that an additional subsidary of £637,000 to Southeastern would be required to maintain the City services on the Maidstone East line and that amount "is not available beyond April 2010". This claim simply does notstand up to scrutiny. The Department for Transport is already removing a fortune in subsidy from Southeastern under ther terms of its Integrated Kent Franchise with the company. Indeed, at the end of the franchise period, Southeastern will actually be forced to pay a subsidy to the Department - the so-called franchise premium. Sir John Stanley has obtained the precise figures from the Managing Director of Southeastern, Mr Charles Horton. He said in a letter to Sir John Stanley on 23rd July 2008: "With regards to subsidy, that given to Southeastern started at £139.9M in year one and will decline to £24.7M in year seven. In year eight, we will be expected to pay a premium of £9.3M to the DfT to operate the franchise".
Given the multi-million pound reductions in subsidy, it is self evident that Ministers would have no difficulty in finding the few hundreds of thousands of pounds necessary to preserve City services on the Maidstone East line to the end of Southeastern's franchise if they were minded to do so.
We are not prepared to accept this decision and neither should you.
We need all of the members to get behind the campaign now and take 5-10 minutes out of your day to send a letter to Chris Mole expressing your feelings on the cancellation of these services and how it will affect you. This is the most crucial time to have a say and make the DfT listen to us, Southeastern have said they will keep the shoulder peak services, but they need the subsidy from the DfT who seem to be ignoring this and also the fact that the KCC have said they will offer money towards keeping these services seems to have been forgotten or ignored.
Please write a letter and email us a copy so that we can see how many people have sent one. Everyone's support has been great so far, we never thought this was going to be easy and we need to keep fighting on so please help us to keep fighting for you.
Rome wasn't built in a day, we'll fight them on the beaches, if at first you don't succeed, our voices are heard best when we all talk together and any other motivational quotes I can say to help you put pen to paper.....or fingers to keyboards, I will gladly say. For anyone who hasn't written to Chris Mole yet please do so, you don't want to be sitting there when it is too late, our area is left with services that may not suit your journey, the local economy and house prices are affected from London workers moving from the area and the Maidstone line has been turned into a freight line. If you wait it will be too late, now is the time to take action. Thanks for everyones support so far please do not think we are not massively appreciative and we would not have been able to raise this issue at the level we have without the support of our members, please do not lose faith yet we will all fight on.
Please write a letter today.
Thank you
It is clear from his response that he has not read the report we submitted to him in August and that the information that he outlines (200-300 people travelling from Maidstone and the Malling area into the City and that the journey disbenefit by going into Victoria will only be 15-30 mins) is incorrect and grossly inaccruate.
In a letter from Sir John Stanley he outlined to me that the Minister claims that an additional subsidary of £637,000 to Southeastern would be required to maintain the City services on the Maidstone East line and that amount "is not available beyond April 2010". This claim simply does notstand up to scrutiny. The Department for Transport is already removing a fortune in subsidy from Southeastern under ther terms of its Integrated Kent Franchise with the company. Indeed, at the end of the franchise period, Southeastern will actually be forced to pay a subsidy to the Department - the so-called franchise premium. Sir John Stanley has obtained the precise figures from the Managing Director of Southeastern, Mr Charles Horton. He said in a letter to Sir John Stanley on 23rd July 2008: "With regards to subsidy, that given to Southeastern started at £139.9M in year one and will decline to £24.7M in year seven. In year eight, we will be expected to pay a premium of £9.3M to the DfT to operate the franchise".
Given the multi-million pound reductions in subsidy, it is self evident that Ministers would have no difficulty in finding the few hundreds of thousands of pounds necessary to preserve City services on the Maidstone East line to the end of Southeastern's franchise if they were minded to do so.
We are not prepared to accept this decision and neither should you.
We need all of the members to get behind the campaign now and take 5-10 minutes out of your day to send a letter to Chris Mole expressing your feelings on the cancellation of these services and how it will affect you. This is the most crucial time to have a say and make the DfT listen to us, Southeastern have said they will keep the shoulder peak services, but they need the subsidy from the DfT who seem to be ignoring this and also the fact that the KCC have said they will offer money towards keeping these services seems to have been forgotten or ignored.
Please write a letter and email us a copy so that we can see how many people have sent one. Everyone's support has been great so far, we never thought this was going to be easy and we need to keep fighting on so please help us to keep fighting for you.
Rome wasn't built in a day, we'll fight them on the beaches, if at first you don't succeed, our voices are heard best when we all talk together and any other motivational quotes I can say to help you put pen to paper.....or fingers to keyboards, I will gladly say. For anyone who hasn't written to Chris Mole yet please do so, you don't want to be sitting there when it is too late, our area is left with services that may not suit your journey, the local economy and house prices are affected from London workers moving from the area and the Maidstone line has been turned into a freight line. If you wait it will be too late, now is the time to take action. Thanks for everyones support so far please do not think we are not massively appreciative and we would not have been able to raise this issue at the level we have without the support of our members, please do not lose faith yet we will all fight on.
Please write a letter today.
Thank you
23/11/2009: DfT Response Update
To date we have still not had a reply from the DfT regarding their decision on the cancellation of the Cannon Street services.
We are therefore asking all members to write to Chris Mole at the DfT asking when we will have a decision and why one has not been made yet when we were told we would know a couple of months after the survey was submitted to him by Sir John Stanley and Ann Widdecombe at the end of July.
The details to write to are:
Chris Mole
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR
Please let us know at info@mallingrailtravellers.com if you have written a letter so that we can gauge how many have been sent (if you have not emailed one of the committee already).
Thanks for your continued support and help in trying to save these services.
We are therefore asking all members to write to Chris Mole at the DfT asking when we will have a decision and why one has not been made yet when we were told we would know a couple of months after the survey was submitted to him by Sir John Stanley and Ann Widdecombe at the end of July.
The details to write to are:
Chris Mole
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR
Please let us know at info@mallingrailtravellers.com if you have written a letter so that we can gauge how many have been sent (if you have not emailed one of the committee already).
Thanks for your continued support and help in trying to save these services.
29/09/2009: Southeastern Stakeholder Meeting (28/09/2009)
The Chair Person and Secretary of MARUG attended Southeastern's Stakeholder Meeting last night and this is a brief summary.
The forum panel consisted of Charles Horton (MD) Vince Lucas (Commercial Director) Tunde Olantunji (Passenger Focus) Daniel Francis (Board Member and London Travel Watch) who also chaired the questions later on in the meeting.
The forum was held at Gillingham football club.
The forum began with an introductory talk from Charles Horton, highlighting the improvements South Eastern have made since taking over the franchise and there was also a lot of talk about the new HS1. The main points he covered were:
Apart from the problems with the snow in February punctuality and reliability have improved with this summer seeing the best ever results since records began!
South Eastern have achieved the investors in people award and 35% of their 3000 staff now have an NVQ.
There has been initiatives to improve station security and there have been fewer passengers complaints.
Charles Horton acknowledged that there are business challenges facing South Eastern, especially during a recession and the main two mentioned were growing passenger numbers and delivering a service with a declining subsidy, There were no numbers on the graphs shown but he did give a figures of £140 million subsidy at the beginning of the franchise and by the end of the 7 year franchise they need to be paying back £15 million per year.
The December timetable got a big mention as well as the new HS1 service, Charles Horton believes very strongly that all the right decisions have been made and that this is a step forward for South Eastern.
The HS1 was given a very positive spin, passenger numbers have increased from 6713 per week to 12808 per week. And apparently people are saying lots of positive things about the service.
Vince Lucas took over at this point and started off by talking about the December 2009 timetable. He started off by saying that all of the decisions about the line were finalised in June but he did concede later on that the decision is currently with the DfT. Main points from Vince:
Everything changes in the December 2009 timetable, not one train is running to the same time as today.
In 2004/05 the DfT set the specification that SE are now following, 2006/07 was when SE completed their research. Since then there have been various changes based mostly on passenger group/council feedback.
Mainline Services
Vince identified Mainline services as those trains that run outside of the M25, they usually have conductor on board, are corridor trains and sometimes have tea and coffee facilities.
Changes that have happened on the Mainline services since the DfT specification was set include:
Tunbridge Wells to Charing Cross trains being reinstated
Strood trains being retained
Paddock Wood off peak services extended
Longfield and Meopham going from 2 trains per hour to 3.
Extension of Victoria to Dover and Faversham services
Through trains to Canterbury being reinstated
Other small stations, including Kemsing, retaining current services
Gravesend service being retained despite restrictions of the HS1
Beltring and Swale stations are to remain open.
All of this was followed by – unfortunately the Maidstone East line services to London Bridge disappear in December. !!
He spent 5 minutes listing the tiny stations that have managed to retain services and then (as we all know), the county town of Kent is losing services!
In addition Metro services are to be integrated to Oyster in January 2010
Thameslink Services, 3 phases of development, improvements now to 2011 to re-build platforms and then 2011 – 2015 for more major works to Blackfriars and London Bridge.
Following Vince was Tunde Olantunji from Passenger Focus. He spoke about the passenger satisfaction surveys that they completed in March. There wasn't a lot to report from this, but I did speak to him afterwards about him getting all of the SE network user groups together to work as a combined group including MARUG and MDRTA.
After Tunde, the floor was opened up for questions from the audience and some questions that had been pre-asked. We will start with the two questions that Laura Cloke asked and will then list the other questions.
Question 1 – does SE have any comment on the Keep Our Trains rail usage report and will they be conducting further studies following this, focusing on the evidence we presented on the routes people take to work (80% in the City)?
Answer – It is up to the DfT and KCC to decide what the future of services from Maidstone should be. Vince suggested (and later admitted that he was thinking out loud) that a more varied service from Maidstone to London could be a possibility, ½ hourly trains alternating between Blackfriars and Victoria. Very positively he said that our survey has put services from Maidstone on the agenda with the DfT.
Question 2 (final question) – as the largest change to the timetable in 40 years, what is being done to publicise the changes to passengers, online is currently very good but when will passengers be informed at the station and will there be help for those whose routes have significantly changed?
Answer – Posters are due to go up in stations in October and printed material will be available from November.
After the forum closed Sarah Bundy (Southeast trains) came up to us to clarify what information was being put out when. There will be a journey planner available online from 23rd October and all season ticket holders will be sent a letter to let them know about the changes. SE argued that they can't tell people about the changes until they know what they are, we argued that people need to know that change is on the cards. They acknowledged that there is an issue here and I think they will be open to some input on this.
After the forum was over several people came up to speak to MARUG which was really great.
All in all evening went well, all of the SE team responded well and we think we have made some good contacts to get dialogues about future services started. There is still a long way to go, but we feel like we are making progress.
Other questions raised are mentioned below. We have just included brief answers
Q – why do you charge £1 for internet order tickets?
A – to cover costs at lesser used machines
Q – are SE worried about people not wanting to travel to St Pancras
A – Charles Horton “this is a myth, people do want to travel to StP”
Q – will car parking charges at Ebbsfleet be reduced?
A – SE take on the lease of 3000 spaces in December, they are reviewing prices but apparently they are in line with car parks north of London!
Q – Will rail user groups be involved in the post 2015 thameslink talks
A – yes, consultations will be happening soon
Q – would SE consider mobile phone free carriages
A – no, people don't want them, but they will encourage people to be more considerate.
The forum panel consisted of Charles Horton (MD) Vince Lucas (Commercial Director) Tunde Olantunji (Passenger Focus) Daniel Francis (Board Member and London Travel Watch) who also chaired the questions later on in the meeting.
The forum was held at Gillingham football club.
The forum began with an introductory talk from Charles Horton, highlighting the improvements South Eastern have made since taking over the franchise and there was also a lot of talk about the new HS1. The main points he covered were:
Apart from the problems with the snow in February punctuality and reliability have improved with this summer seeing the best ever results since records began!
South Eastern have achieved the investors in people award and 35% of their 3000 staff now have an NVQ.
There has been initiatives to improve station security and there have been fewer passengers complaints.
Charles Horton acknowledged that there are business challenges facing South Eastern, especially during a recession and the main two mentioned were growing passenger numbers and delivering a service with a declining subsidy, There were no numbers on the graphs shown but he did give a figures of £140 million subsidy at the beginning of the franchise and by the end of the 7 year franchise they need to be paying back £15 million per year.
The December timetable got a big mention as well as the new HS1 service, Charles Horton believes very strongly that all the right decisions have been made and that this is a step forward for South Eastern.
The HS1 was given a very positive spin, passenger numbers have increased from 6713 per week to 12808 per week. And apparently people are saying lots of positive things about the service.
Vince Lucas took over at this point and started off by talking about the December 2009 timetable. He started off by saying that all of the decisions about the line were finalised in June but he did concede later on that the decision is currently with the DfT. Main points from Vince:
Everything changes in the December 2009 timetable, not one train is running to the same time as today.
In 2004/05 the DfT set the specification that SE are now following, 2006/07 was when SE completed their research. Since then there have been various changes based mostly on passenger group/council feedback.
Mainline Services
Vince identified Mainline services as those trains that run outside of the M25, they usually have conductor on board, are corridor trains and sometimes have tea and coffee facilities.
Changes that have happened on the Mainline services since the DfT specification was set include:
Tunbridge Wells to Charing Cross trains being reinstated
Strood trains being retained
Paddock Wood off peak services extended
Longfield and Meopham going from 2 trains per hour to 3.
Extension of Victoria to Dover and Faversham services
Through trains to Canterbury being reinstated
Other small stations, including Kemsing, retaining current services
Gravesend service being retained despite restrictions of the HS1
Beltring and Swale stations are to remain open.
All of this was followed by – unfortunately the Maidstone East line services to London Bridge disappear in December. !!
He spent 5 minutes listing the tiny stations that have managed to retain services and then (as we all know), the county town of Kent is losing services!
In addition Metro services are to be integrated to Oyster in January 2010
Thameslink Services, 3 phases of development, improvements now to 2011 to re-build platforms and then 2011 – 2015 for more major works to Blackfriars and London Bridge.
Following Vince was Tunde Olantunji from Passenger Focus. He spoke about the passenger satisfaction surveys that they completed in March. There wasn't a lot to report from this, but I did speak to him afterwards about him getting all of the SE network user groups together to work as a combined group including MARUG and MDRTA.
After Tunde, the floor was opened up for questions from the audience and some questions that had been pre-asked. We will start with the two questions that Laura Cloke asked and will then list the other questions.
Question 1 – does SE have any comment on the Keep Our Trains rail usage report and will they be conducting further studies following this, focusing on the evidence we presented on the routes people take to work (80% in the City)?
Answer – It is up to the DfT and KCC to decide what the future of services from Maidstone should be. Vince suggested (and later admitted that he was thinking out loud) that a more varied service from Maidstone to London could be a possibility, ½ hourly trains alternating between Blackfriars and Victoria. Very positively he said that our survey has put services from Maidstone on the agenda with the DfT.
Question 2 (final question) – as the largest change to the timetable in 40 years, what is being done to publicise the changes to passengers, online is currently very good but when will passengers be informed at the station and will there be help for those whose routes have significantly changed?
Answer – Posters are due to go up in stations in October and printed material will be available from November.
After the forum closed Sarah Bundy (Southeast trains) came up to us to clarify what information was being put out when. There will be a journey planner available online from 23rd October and all season ticket holders will be sent a letter to let them know about the changes. SE argued that they can't tell people about the changes until they know what they are, we argued that people need to know that change is on the cards. They acknowledged that there is an issue here and I think they will be open to some input on this.
After the forum was over several people came up to speak to MARUG which was really great.
All in all evening went well, all of the SE team responded well and we think we have made some good contacts to get dialogues about future services started. There is still a long way to go, but we feel like we are making progress.
Other questions raised are mentioned below. We have just included brief answers
Q – why do you charge £1 for internet order tickets?
A – to cover costs at lesser used machines
Q – are SE worried about people not wanting to travel to St Pancras
A – Charles Horton “this is a myth, people do want to travel to StP”
Q – will car parking charges at Ebbsfleet be reduced?
A – SE take on the lease of 3000 spaces in December, they are reviewing prices but apparently they are in line with car parks north of London!
Q – Will rail user groups be involved in the post 2015 thameslink talks
A – yes, consultations will be happening soon
Q – would SE consider mobile phone free carriages
A – no, people don't want them, but they will encourage people to be more considerate.
18/09/2009: News Update
Online Survey
Thank you to everyone who completed the online survey or who helped to count the number of passengers using the train. 496 people completed the online survey which is a fantastic result for just 6 weeks work. The survey closed at the beginning of August and we compiled the results into a report of City services on the Maidstone East line.
The report was presented to the DfT on behalf of MDRTA and MARUG by Sir John Stanley and the 3 other local MPs. Sir John Stanley was very impressed by the high standard of the report and found the results showed a very compelling case for retaining and improving the rail links between Maidstone East and the City.
The full survey is available to view on the website here
The main points of interest from the report are:
The City services are well used.
The services are well used despite not arriving into/leaving London at the highest peak time of travel (8.30am and 5.30pm)
80% of people surveyed online stated that the City stations (London Bridge, Cannon Street, Blackfriars) are the closest station to the place they work.
The main reason for not using a local station but driving to one further away is a poor service at their local station.
95% of people surveyed online would use their local station if the City service was more frequent.
A lot of people have asked us why this survey was carried out in July, which is traditionally a quieter time of use. The answer to this is that it was out of necessity. When the MPs met with the transport minister Chris Mole on 30th June they made the case that the Cannon Street service was well used. The response to this was, can you show me any numbers to prove this? The deadline for doing this was 14th August.
The surveys we completed are really just a snapshot of use, but they very clearly show that the previous understanding of the use of the line is wrong and needs to be urgently reviewed. The results were presented in the context of a quieter time of use and it was made clear to the Minister that more analysis is required. You can actually see the decline of use from June to the end of July in the table of results of the manual counts completed.
I must say a huge thank you to Sir John Stanley, he has been fantastic at co-ordinating the two users groups and the MPs and is incredibly passionate about the campaign. I received a letter from him this week stating that he has forwarded the report to John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government highlighting the impact the cut in services will have on the regional planning and housing policies for Maidstone.
We are now not expecting a response from the DfT until October but will let you know about any news as soon as we hear it.
Press
MDRTA, MARUG and the Keep Our Trains campaign has continued to receive plenty of coverage with the local media. We are posting all of the news articles as we get them in on the website where you can read all of the articles written about us here. If you find any in the local papers, please feel free to scan them and email to us and we will get them on the site.
There is currently an article in the KM website about promotional activity for the high speed link
There has been a lot of promotion about this service, but very little mention of the loss of services to towns like West Malling, Borough Green and Maidstone and the price increases that we will see next year to fund it. Please take a few minutes to comment on this article. The more people who shout about the poor service in West Malling and Borough Green, the more notice people will take.
If you spot any press about the high speed link or services in our area do please tell us.
Stakeholder Meeting
On the 28th September Laura Cloke from KOT and MARUG will be attending the annual South Eastern stakeholder meeting on behalf of KOT and MARUG.
According to the invitation
"The forum will focus on the December 2009 timetable, high speed preview services and the Thameslink programme. There will be ample time for delegates to put questions to Charles and his management team."
We will be putting a summary of the meeting on the website along with the responses to our questions.
Lastly MARUG are on the look out for pre 2008 timetables so if you have any that you're willing to donate please get in touch on info@mallingrailtravellers.com
Thank you to everyone who completed the online survey or who helped to count the number of passengers using the train. 496 people completed the online survey which is a fantastic result for just 6 weeks work. The survey closed at the beginning of August and we compiled the results into a report of City services on the Maidstone East line.
The report was presented to the DfT on behalf of MDRTA and MARUG by Sir John Stanley and the 3 other local MPs. Sir John Stanley was very impressed by the high standard of the report and found the results showed a very compelling case for retaining and improving the rail links between Maidstone East and the City.
The full survey is available to view on the website here
The main points of interest from the report are:
The City services are well used.
The services are well used despite not arriving into/leaving London at the highest peak time of travel (8.30am and 5.30pm)
80% of people surveyed online stated that the City stations (London Bridge, Cannon Street, Blackfriars) are the closest station to the place they work.
The main reason for not using a local station but driving to one further away is a poor service at their local station.
95% of people surveyed online would use their local station if the City service was more frequent.
A lot of people have asked us why this survey was carried out in July, which is traditionally a quieter time of use. The answer to this is that it was out of necessity. When the MPs met with the transport minister Chris Mole on 30th June they made the case that the Cannon Street service was well used. The response to this was, can you show me any numbers to prove this? The deadline for doing this was 14th August.
The surveys we completed are really just a snapshot of use, but they very clearly show that the previous understanding of the use of the line is wrong and needs to be urgently reviewed. The results were presented in the context of a quieter time of use and it was made clear to the Minister that more analysis is required. You can actually see the decline of use from June to the end of July in the table of results of the manual counts completed.
I must say a huge thank you to Sir John Stanley, he has been fantastic at co-ordinating the two users groups and the MPs and is incredibly passionate about the campaign. I received a letter from him this week stating that he has forwarded the report to John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government highlighting the impact the cut in services will have on the regional planning and housing policies for Maidstone.
We are now not expecting a response from the DfT until October but will let you know about any news as soon as we hear it.
Press
MDRTA, MARUG and the Keep Our Trains campaign has continued to receive plenty of coverage with the local media. We are posting all of the news articles as we get them in on the website where you can read all of the articles written about us here. If you find any in the local papers, please feel free to scan them and email to us and we will get them on the site.
There is currently an article in the KM website about promotional activity for the high speed link
There has been a lot of promotion about this service, but very little mention of the loss of services to towns like West Malling, Borough Green and Maidstone and the price increases that we will see next year to fund it. Please take a few minutes to comment on this article. The more people who shout about the poor service in West Malling and Borough Green, the more notice people will take.
If you spot any press about the high speed link or services in our area do please tell us.
Stakeholder Meeting
On the 28th September Laura Cloke from KOT and MARUG will be attending the annual South Eastern stakeholder meeting on behalf of KOT and MARUG.
According to the invitation
"The forum will focus on the December 2009 timetable, high speed preview services and the Thameslink programme. There will be ample time for delegates to put questions to Charles and his management team."
We will be putting a summary of the meeting on the website along with the responses to our questions.
Lastly MARUG are on the look out for pre 2008 timetables so if you have any that you're willing to donate please get in touch on info@mallingrailtravellers.com
12/08/2009: Rail User Survey UPDATE: SURVEY FINDINGS BELOW
Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer the Rail User Survey, we are collating the data to give to Sir John Stanley who will present it to the Minister for Transport on the 14th August.
Until the meeting has taken place we cannot disclose any of the findings that the information has presented. We will let you know as soon as we can, which is most likely to be just after the 14th August. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to answer it and to everyone who is keeping the campaign alive by talking about it regularly, without you and your efforts we would still be facing the imminent cancellation of the services.
It is a critical time for the campaign and we hope to be back in touch with you all shortly with more information. If you have not done so already then please write to your local MP outlining your concerns (www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/) at losing the fast, direct services and enquiring as to why there are not more fast, direct trains to London Bridge (which would give us the ability to connect to other London termini like Cannon Street, Blackfriars, Charing Cross, Waterloo and Canary Wharf) at PEAK times.
TRAINS USAGE SURVEY
Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer the Rail User Survey, we are collating the data to give to Sir John Stanley who will present it to the Minister for Transport on the 14th August.
Until the meeting has taken place we cannot disclose any of the findings that the information has presented. We will let you know as soon as we can, which is most likely to be just after the 14th August. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to answer it and to everyone who is keeping the campaign alive by talking about it regularly, without you and your efforts we would still be facing the imminent cancellation of the services.
It is a critical time for the campaign and we hope to be back in touch with you all shortly with more information. If you have not done so already then please write to your local MP outlining your concerns (www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/) at losing the fast, direct services and enquiring as to why there are not more fast, direct trains to London Bridge (which would give us the ability to connect to other London termini like Cannon Street, Blackfriars, Charing Cross, Waterloo and Canary Wharf) at PEAK times.
TRAINS USAGE SURVEY
| doc_review1.ppt |
Southeastern Trains July Stakeholder Newsletter
| stakeholder_newsletter_july_2009.pdf |
