Why people on the Catford Loop �deserve a better rail service

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The perspective of the Crofton Park Transport Users Group

What is the�campaign about?

The day to day service

• Crofton Park is a rail station in zone 3, south east London. Trains run north to Elephant & Castle, Blackfriars, the City, Farringdon, St Pancras and beyond and south to Sevenoaks.

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• Just 55% of trains arrive on time across the GTR franchise.

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• Anecdotal experience suggest Crofton Park gets an even worse service than this at peak times. Broken down trains and abrupt cancellations are common.

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• Overcrowding is habitual on morning and evening peak trains, especially when there are only 4 carriages.

The Timetable

• Mostly there are just 2 trains/hour. �The same as to Paris or Leeds from London.
• Just 7 (of 149) London stations in zone 3 have such a poor service. It is substantially worse than in the 1950s:

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Passenger Growth

• Yet passenger numbers are going up fast:

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• There is good reason to believe these startling figures under-count (Crofton Park ticket office is often shut; �there are no ticket barriers).
• We did a careful visual count throughout one day in April 2013. Extrapolating the numbers we found a ‘real’ figure of 887,840 entries and exits. Adjusting for latest official figures gives 1,022,486.

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The Area

• London is growing fast in every sense, and the area is no exception.
• One stop to the south is Catford station, where the former greyhound stadium is being developed into Catford Green, with 588 new homes.
• The arrival of London Overground through Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill has proved very popular and led to more people changing from Catford Loop services at those stations.
• Neighbouring stations, for example Honor Oak Park (also in zone 3) have fared much better – it now has 12 trains per hour to London plus first to last staffing, improved lighting, CCTV and station upkeep.

What We Want

Short term

• A reliable day to day service
• All trains in the morning and evening peaks to have 8 carriages.
• 4 trains per hour in the morning and evening peaks both north and southbound.
• All trains to run through to St Pancras, rather than some trains (mainly in the evening) running to Blackfriars only as presently.

Longer term

• 4 trains per hour throughout the day
• Station standards that match London Overground

Photos from the campaign

Photo from the first public meeting for the campaign, attended by over 100 local residents

Commuter photos that have been shared with us highlighting some of the daily issues of using the Catford Loop

Commuter photos that have been shared with us highlighting some of the daily issues of using the Catford Loop

Commuter photos that have been shared with us highlighting some of the daily issues of using the Catford Loop

Commuter photos that have been shared with us highlighting some of the daily issues of using the Catford Loop

Quotes from passengers about their travel experience

"I feel awful for the people who can't get on" - Tony

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"I get a train one or two trains earlier than I should have to" (said by several people) - Jo

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"Two trains an hour. That's all we have. That is crazy." - Adrian

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"Sometimes the crush is so bad that the horizontal handrails are dug deep into my side where I'm pushed against them" - Jo

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"I want Thameslink to come on the 7.56 with me and experience it for themselves" - Adrian

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"I don't want my baby to be squashed" �(said by a pregnant woman)

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"If I see it's going to be a 4 carriage train I don't even try to get on it, I go another way"

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"How can the apps have better information than their own staff?"

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"Twice last year my wife got swept on to St Albans. She goes to West Hampstead, but they ran the train fast from St Pancras without telling anyone. When they got out at St Albans, they were fined. 19 people. They refused to believe there had been no announcement. That happened twice last year."

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"The stress and anger from people on the train is horrible - the situations we are forced into".

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"I pressed the info button at Crofton Park to try to find out what was happening - there was no decent information. I had to explain to the guy on the other end where Crofton Park was."

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"I've lived in various European countries and Japan. This is the worst train service I have ever seen."

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"My trains are always late, the timetable can't be working".

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"I get to work feeling I've already done a day's work"

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"I sometimes use Ladywell, which is 20 minutes' walk away, even though I only live 4 minutes' walk from Crofton Park - because of the unreliability".

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"Why do they let late-running Southeastern trains ahead of ours all the time, even when we're on time sometimes?"

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"I work night shifts and regularly get stranded on my own at Blackfriars late at night due to cancellations" �(said by a woman)

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