David Lepper in "sort out the trains" call to Southern

David Lepper, Brighton Pavilion Labour and Co-operative MP, has called on Southern Trains to reinstate commuter services from Brighton scrapped as part of the new timetable.

David said:

"I have been making representations to Southern since mid-November as I began to hear from constituents who commute regularly who were concerned about the loss of service.  Those complaints have grown stronger following the introduction of the new timetable on 14 December and the post New Year return to work.

"In a report to the Brighton Line commuters organisation, of which I have been a member for many years, I summarised the concerns which I have raised with Southern on behalf of residents prior to a BLC meeting with train company representatives on 21 January.

"Underlying concerns people express are that:

• the pre-change publicity put the emphasis on more trains on the Brighton Line but did not draw attention, as it should have done, to the rush hour details morning and evening of the impact of those changes on regular commuters.
• the changes have been made for the benefit of casual travellers,  day trippers and those travelling to and from Gatwick at the expense of the quality of service to the season ticket commuters who provide a substantial proportion of Southern' income and who have no alternative but to use the train

"There is a general feeling that commuters especially should have been more formally consulted and that had they been changes could have been implemented which were based on actual patterns of travel rather than these changes which seem to ignore how commuters use the trains to and from Brighton morning and evening."

David's dossier says:

• The greatest concern is about the loss of the 7.47am stopping service from Brighton- Clapham Junction and the 6.13 pm service to Brighton stopping at Clapham Junction. 
• Regular users say the alternative of changing at Haywards Heath means a longer journey, that trains are frequently full or very crowded by the time they arrive at Haywards Heath, adding to the discomfort of the journey and that there have been a significant number of delays affecting this connection.
• A number of people mention their reliance on being able to do work - related activities such as reading documents or using laptops,  particularly on the journey to work, and that this becomes much more difficult or unpredictable with the Haywards Heath change.
• The next priority is concern about the axing of the 6.41 am to London Bridge withconstituents pointing out that there is now no service to London Bridge between 6.09 and 7.33 - too wide a gap.
• One constituent feels strongly that alternative First Capital Connect services are too slow, unreliable and overcrowded. In fact, no one else expresses any thought of using FCC as an alternative.
• There is also some concern about the ending of services from Preston Park in the morning and a 50% reduction in stopping trains to Preston Park for homebound commuters in the evening.

"I have asked Southern to consider the early reinstatement of the Clapham Junction stopping services and the London Bridge Service.

"The standard reply I am receiving from Ian Lashbrook of Southern says: "We acknowledge that this (the Haywards Heath connection as a substitute for the Clapham Junction connection ) is less convenient than a direct service to Clapham Junction."

He also says, "Predicting the choices commuters will make when a timetable provides different opportunities is quite difficult. We are therefore monitoring train loadings very carefully."

David adds:

"I suspect that most of those who have been in touch with me would say that his comment on "predicting choices" is management-speak nonsense and that anyone who uses the service regularly could have predicted the reaction.

"As usually happens with bus and train service changes I was asked by Paul Crowther of Brighton and Hove city council for any comments on the proposed changes and I forwarded him any concerns raised with me by constituents prior to 14 December with a request for him to let me know if the council would be making any representations. I have received no reply."