GTR have confirmed that they will not be reintroducing the peak direct to Victoria train on the Tattenham Corner line.
Before the pandemic there were seven peak hour trains to Victoria in the morning and seven trains back in the evening from Victoria. The reduction during the pandemic was understandable: when in lockdown there was very little demand for the service, rail staff were often off sick or needing to isolate just like the rest of us so there weren’t enough workers to operate the train service.
At the time, we wrote to GTR to ask them to consider reinstating the service at the earliest possible opportunity. In August 2021 they said:
We will keep you updated on future plans, but given the impact of coronavirus on our crew and on demand for rail services, it is very unlikely that additional services beyond those that were operating as of May 2021 will run before next year. Once the pressures of coronavirus have alleviated, additional services will be based on a review of customer demand, crew availability, funding availability and the negative consequence of additional services for punctuality and reliability for customers. There is a trade-off between the number of services that run, and the reliability and punctuality of all services for customers – and with a likely significant reduction to customer demand into the medium term, increases in services need to be very carefully assessed.
There is a careful balance to be struck here, yes usage patterns have changed with more central London commuters working remotely or only travelling in part of the time, but there is broad acceptance that we will be slowly returning to some level of pre-pandemic normality as the year progresses. This plus a growing suburban population in Coulsdon and north Surrey could see demand increase surprisingly quickly in the autumn, but without the required train service provision. In recent years in Coulsdon alone there have been some 2,000 units constructed, with very little parking provision, on the assumption of a good PTAL rating largely informed by a reliable and direct train service – one that has just been cancelled.
GTR replied on 8th August 2022 to our latest letters expressing concern about the cancellation of the Victoria service by saying:
Thank you for your letters regarding services from Tattenham Corner. As the letters recognise, the context to our timetable is a response to the financial impact of increased working from home. While demand has recovered somewhat, it has stabilised, with peak time demand in the high 60%’s and within that, concentrated Tuesday to Thursday.
Similar to the position facing TfL, for a predominantly commuter network like this, it means a gap in the region of £350 to £450 million per annum before inflation. As a result, we are having to make some very difficult choices and one of these is to reduce overlap, either directly with our services or with London Overground and TfL bus services.
While recognising a direct service would be preferable, the Tattenham Corner to London Bridge service provides connections at Purley or East Croydon for London Victoria. There is a timetable change from Sunday 4th September which will make the change of trains at Purley for London Victoria more robust. This timetable change will however also reduce the frequency on Sundays only of the Tattenham Corner to Purley shuttle to hourly. The journey time of the Purley to London Bridge service will however improve, with the service running fast between London Bridge and Norwood Junction, rather than the current all-stations set-up on Sundays.
With regards to the future, such as a return of direct London Victoria services - we would need to develop a succesful business case for funding including the lease of additional trains. This would need to show that the service is needed to either address significant overcrowding or will be beneficial to the funding of the wider railway by bringing in additional revenue. At the moment with the availability of London Victoria services at Purley and East Croydon it is not realistic as a case, but clearly as passenger demand changes in the future and if the trend to working from home changes then it is something we will review and will look to work with stakeholders such as yourself to build support.
I recognise that residents would like a direct service to London Victoria and know that this update will be a disappointment. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Purley and East Croydon in particular are already busy stations, we will need to keep monitoring the use of the station to determine whether pressure on the network should be alleviated with the future reintroduction of the direct to Victoria service.
Maintaining a viable peak service for commuters along the Tattenham Corner line is essential. Back in February this year I led efforts to demand an improved service for Reigate, Croydon and Tandridge commuters. This won’t be the last time we need to advocate for local people, we’ll continue to push for the best possible service for our residents.
Photo by Daniel Zacatenco on Unsplash
