LONDON OVERGROUND is being extended from 9 December by adding a section Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction – http://goo.gl/9roun
It brings 4 trains per hour (tph) 7 days a week between Clapham Junction and Highbury & Islington via Wandsworth Rd, Clapham High St, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye, Queens Rd Peckham. This will open up new journey opportunities to east and west London. All these south London stations will appear on the new TfL Tube map. The downside to that is that it looks as if the new Tube map will show us cut off with no rail services to central London. How daft is that.Southwark Rail User Group have thoughtfully produced a much more useful map to publicise our rail connections into central London – http://www.bellenden.net/SRUG-maps.
BUT THE SOUTH LONDON LINE DISAPPEARS
But this also means we say a sad goodbye to the inner South London Line (SLL) – http://goo.gl/yWQmd. This hopefully temporary closure until 2018 when London Bridge station reopens will really isolate communities along the SLL route with no direct access to London Bridge and very patchy services into Victoria – many people will be deterred from living in Camberwell and other communities along the line. Many users, organisations and representatives fought a long and hard campaign to save it. But it was not successful. See here for some of that story – http://www.bellenden.net/rail-cuts. We’ll have to fight hard for the service to be returned in 2018.
REMAINING SERVICES
The changes will leave us with these services off peak:
– Victoria from Nunhead, Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill: 2tph Mon to Sat, but none in the evenings, and none on Sunday. (3tph between 8am-9am)
– Clapham Junction via Wandsworth Rd, Clapham High St, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye, Queens Rd Peckham to Canada Water and beyond on the London Overground: 4tph, 7 days a week morning till night.
– St Pancras and beyond from Nunhead, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill via Elephant Castle/Blackfriars: 2tph, up to 9pm Mon to Fri, and terminating at Blackfriars after that time and weekends. (More tph Mon-Fri between 8am-9.15am)
– London Bridge from North Dulwich, East Dulwich, Peckham Rye, Queens Rd Peckham, Sth Bermondsey: 4tph, 7 days a week morning to night. (In the peak there will be 6tph – a 10 minute frequency.)
DISAPPEARING SERVICES
The services we are losing are:
– the 2 tph between London Bridge and Victoria via Sth Bermondsey, Queens Rd, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill, Clapham High St, Wandsworth Rd, Battersea Pk, provided by the South London Line. (SLL). They are currently 7 days a week from morning till night.
Their loss means for the stations affected:
– no trains to London Bridge via Battersea Pk, Wandsworth Rd, Clapham High St, Denmark Hill.
– no trains to Victoria via Sth Bermondsey, Queens Rd, Clapham High St, Wandsworth Rd, Battersea Pk.
– no trains to Victoria after about 7pm, and none on Sunday from Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill.
– a reduction from 4tph to 2tph to Victoria from Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill.
– a reduction off peak from 6tph to 4tph to London Bridge from Peckham Rye, Queens Rd Peckham, Sth Bermondsey.
CAMPAIGN TO RESTORE OUR VICTORIA SERVICES
In the longer term we want our South London Line service between London Bridge to Victoria, via Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill and all the current SLL stations, restored once London Bridge station is rebuilt in 2018.
In the meantime, the campaign continues to get the gaps filled in services to Victoria that the loss of the South London Line creates in the evenings and at weekends and to restore the service to 4tph – http://www.bellenden.net/victoria – You will see there the email addresses of all those who should know the effect of the loss of our South London Line.