Chuka welcomes government plans to improve security and services at train stations across Streatham and South London.

The Department for Transport has announced that all trains running on the South London rail network are to have CCTV cameras installed on them to increase safety for users. In addition, rail stations, including Streatham, Streatham Hill, Tulse Hill and Streatham Common, are to be staffed at night, and an extra 1,500 secure cycle bays will be provided to stations across the network.

The measures have been written into the criteria of the new franchise agreement for the South Central rail network – currently operated by Southern - which covers stations across South London and parts of Southern England. They were developed after consultation with rail user groups to improve services for commuters.

The operator that wins the bid to run the South Central network between 2009 and 2015 will be required to implement the security measures, and increase services running through South London. Late night services will run until 12.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays and at least 11pm all other nights of the week.

Chuka welcomed the recent government announcement:
“Improving our transport links and services to the Streatham constituency is an absolute priority and we are doing just that with these moves to increase safety on our stations and extend running times.”

Chuka is currently campaigning to maintain Thameslink services to Streatham rail stations, click here to find out more information and to join the campaign.

Carys Afoko

Chuka and local residents were joined by London Assembly Member Val Shawcross in a campaign to bring a bus route to Leigham Vale.

Leigham Vale currently has no bus service, meaning residents face a long uphill walk to transport links in Tulse Hill, or buses running through Leigham Court Road. After hearing about the inconvenience this posed not only to commuters but elderly residents needing to access to local amenities, Chuka and Streatham Wells Labour party lobbied Transport for London to bring a bus route to the Vale.

After bringing TfL representatives to the area to discuss the possibility of a bus service earlier in the year, a petition of local residents was formally presented to Val Shawcross, Labour’s London Assembly Member for Lambeth & Southwark and Chair of the London Assembly’s Transport Committee. Val delivered the petition to Boris Johnson at Mayor’s question time this week.

As part of the proposal, Chuka and Val wish to see parking arrangements improved along Leigham Vale, for example by allowing cars to park on the pavement on the rail side of the road, a proposal which has proved popular with residents.

Carys Afoko

Network Rail plan to cut off Streatham’s Thameslink service at Blackfriars from 2015, severing our direct transport links to north London. Join the campaign to Save Our Thameslink Services.

The Thameslink service as we know it is to be no more. With no real consultation, Network Rail have declared that Streatham, Tulse Hill, Wimbledon and other stations on the “Wimbledon Loop” part of the Thameslink line will lose direct train services to stations beyond Blackfriars from 2015. This will mean:

• No direct train to Kings Cross St Pancras and its interchange with the Eurostar
• No direct service to Farringdon, cutting Streatham off from Crossrail;
• Streatham and other Wimbledon loop stations will miss out on the new connections as Thameslink expands.

The proposal to sever Wimbledon Loop stations from the rest of the Thameslink line was hidden away at the back of the “Route Utilisation Strategy” for South London, published earlier this year. The information had not appeared in the draft report issued in 2006, and no apparent consultation of service users has been carried out regarding the plans.

Concerned that the proposals were unknown or unclear to most service users, Chuka spoke with senior Network Rail executives who confirmed that trains from Streatham will no longer go beyond Blackfriars after 2015. The plans are now being sent to the Department for Transport for final approval. Network Rail have yet to produce evidence of any direct consultation of local passengers. Chuka commented:

“Thameslink provides the only direct route for rail users in Streatham to destinations North of the river and now this is being taken from us. We want Streatham to be better connected, not cut off from the rail map of the future.
“Network Rail have cooked up these plans without giving a single leaflet to service users or putting up a single poster to canvass our views and now they are seeking to quietly push these plans as a fait accompli through the Department for Transport.”

Chuka is now campaigning to ensure that the proposals are not granted approval by the Department for Transport.

If you want to save Streatham’s Thameslink services sign up to our new campaign by sending your name and postcode to thameslink@streathamlabour.org.uk.

Network Rail’s ‘South London Route Utilisation Strategy’ (RUS) was published in March 2008 and can be found here. The proposal to sever the Wimbledon Loop from Thameslink north of Blackfriars is contained in paragraphs 9.6.1 and 9.6.2 of the document on page 111.

Carys Afoko