Reigate, Redhill & District Rail Users Association(Merstham, Redhill, Reigate, Earlswood, Salfords, Horley and Nutfield)

RRDRUAResponsetoGTR2018timetableplan

Quotefrom“ThomastheTankEngine”

“I’mashamedofyou,Duncan!”saidSkarloeythatnight.“Youshouldthinkofyourpassengers,notyourself.”“Passengersarejustnuisances.They’realwayscomplaining.”repliedDuncan.“That’snowaytotalk!”saidSkarloey.“Weneedpassengers.NoPassengersmeansnotrains.AndnotrainsmeansnoRailway!”

Key Train Service Cuts• 2006/7 Thameslink main line trains removed to allow

Brighton to Thameslink to be cut by 10 minutes• Slower trains introduced to replace Thameslink• 2012-2014 Peak Services to London Bridge cut to allow

other lines to keep services – services given extended journey times

• 2016 Arun Valley Trains removed to save 5 minutes journey time

• 2016 Journey Times to London Bridge extended• 2018 Journey times extended to Victoria and London

Bridge

2014November– Stakeholdermeeting

DavidScorey– PassengerServiceDirector,SouthernRailway

WhendiscussingthecutstoServicesRedhillfacedhepromisedthat

“in2018theservicefromRedhillwillbemarkedlyimprovedontodaysservices”

It's REDHILL LINE's turn

What'sonoffer=NewServicePlanin2018• ProposedRecastServiceoverallinferiorto2012fromRedhill• LondonBridge– ManyJourneytimescutfrom34to31minutes(fromRedhill)bychangingstoppingpatternshoweverpeakfasttrainsgone(25mins)

• AllLondonBridgetrainsextendthroughThameslink• LondonVictoria– JourneytimesfromRedhillincreasedfrom28minuteto39minutes(40%increase)

• Reigate– optionofpeakshuttleorlimitedthroughtrains• FewertrainstoCrawley/ThreeBridgesthan2012and2016• NotrainstoSouthCoastatall• LossofVictoriatrainsfromEarlswood&Salfords(&Horley?)

What’s Better

• AllLondonBridgetrainsextendthroughThameslink

• MersthamandCoulsdonSouthswap4trainsperhourtoLondonBridgefor2trainsperhourtoLondonBridge/Thameslinkand2toVictoria– samenumberoftrainsbutmoreVariety

• AdditionalEveningservice’sfromThameslink/LondonBridge

PassengersRequired

• Reigatehaspassengerswantingthroughtrains• RedhillhaspassengerswhowanttogettoVictoriain28minutes• LocalBusinesseswantcommutersfromBrightonandSussextocometoRedhill&Reigateforwork

• Earlswoodand Salfords commuterswanttogotoVictoria• Redhill/Sussextrafficneedspassengerstousetrainstocutroadcongestion

• RegularFastandStoppingservicestobothLondonBridgeandLondonVictoria(differentmarkets)

• Stoppingpatternsrepeat7daysaweekalldayasmuchaspossible• Reigatehashighpotentialformorepassengerssoneedsdecentservice

• SouthCoastServicesalongtheBrightonMainLine

Whatservicedoesourlineneedtoimprove

EffectofweakservicesalongRedhillline

• Commutersmoveaway• Overcrowding• UnreliableService

• Housepricesfall• ManyNewHousesbeingbuilt,4,500announcedforRedhilllastweek

• Shopsclose• Redhillregenerationcouldfail• LocalBusinessescan’tfindstaffthus

• Businessmovesawayandnewbusinessdoesn’tcome

FocusonReigate• PassengersatReigatehavedoubled sinceintroductionofalldayservice• CurrentGTRService

• MontoSatDaytimehourlyservicetoLondonVictoria(fastRDHtoECR)• ExtraPeakservicestoLondonBridgeandLondonVictoria• EveningshuttlestoRedhill• Sunday– noservice

• ProposedService• RetainMontoSatHourlyServicetoVictoriabutextendjourneytimeby11minutes• PeakServices– either1tphVictoriaor3tphshuttles• Evening– either1tphVictoriaor2tphshuttles• Sundays- either1tphVictoriaor2tphshuttles

TheproblemwithShuttles

•They get constantly Cancelled

• Whybecauseonlytwostationsareaffected(inrealityjustone)• EasiertodealwiththancancellationsthroughEastCroydon

FocusonReigate(2)• Neitherproposalisacceptable

• RRDRUA Proposal – 2 trains per hour to London 7 days per week

• ThereishugeuntappedpassengerdemandatReigate• RRDRUAsurveyedourmemberslivinginReigate–

• Justover50%traveltoRedhill/Merstham/EarlswoodforLondon• 65%morewoulduseReigateifservicesweremorefrequent

• ThiscausestrafficcongestionandoverloadingofcarparksaroundRedhillstation• IfrepeatedacrosspassengerbasethenusageofReigatecoulddoubleormoreifextraLondonservices

• Serviceneedstobeincreasedthroughoutday&eveningtoensureconvenienceforpassengers• MostpassengersfromReigatearewithinwalkingdistanceofStation

FocusonRedhill

• Returnof4LondonBridgeperhourwelcome• VictoriaProposalisUnacceptable– 40%increaseinjourneytime• Victoriaismainoff-peakandweekenddestination• Over50%oftravellerswillsuffertheextendedjourneytimes– ourestimate4,000perday

• Lessregularserviceshouldbefasterservicenototherwayround• ThischangeseriouslyeffectstheservicelevelsfromRedhillline,thewellbeingofthousandsofpassengersandissimplynotacceptable.

FocusonEarlswood,SalfordsandHorley• RegularThameslinktrainswelcome• 4trainsperhourmorning/eveningpeaktoThameslinkgreat• LossofPeakVictoriaservicenotacceptable• NoreturnforEveningVictoriaserviceslostin2012unwelcome• Proposal– HourlytraintoVictoriabasedonsplittingwithReigatetrain

• CouldstilldowithproperstationstaffatEarlswoodandSalfords• UncertaintyoverdirectVictoriaservicefromHorleyworrying

FocusonMerstham&TonbridgeBranch

Merstham• Lossofregular4trainsperhourtoLondonBridgeremovesturnupandgoaspect

• PositivethatVictoriatrainsreturn

TonbridgeBranch• NoChanges

ReigateProposal– SolutionwithPlatform3• ReigatepassengerswantLondonBridgeservicesby2to1inRRDRUAsurveyofourmembers

• Keyreasonforlackofservicesisplatform3• CanGTRworkwithNetworkRailtobringPlatform3forward?• GTRwillmakepromiseforThameslinkdiversiontoReigateifplatform3built(BedfordtoGatwickservicesgotoReigate)?

• IfBedfordtoReigateservicestartsthenVictoriaservicecoulddiverttoGatwickandserveEarlswood,SalfordsandHorleywithneededlongertrains

• SurreyCC&Reigate/BansteadCouncilfullysupportplatform3• SurreyCC/R&Bcouldfindfundstoassistwithextraplatform?

ReigateProposal– withoutplatform3

• Half-hourlyservicetoVictoriaMontoSatincludingevenings• CombinetrainsatRedhill(LikeatPurleywithCat/Tats)

• FirstHalfhourtoTonbridge• SecondHalfhourtoGatwickCallingatEWD,SAF&HOR

• Combiningtrainsmeans8or12coachtrainsthroughEastCroydontoVictoriabetterthantodays4coachtrains

• Half-hourlyservicewillmeanmorepassengersusingReigate• MaintainsTonbridgeService&AddnewELD/SAF/HORVictoriaservice

• AfterPlatform3– FulltraintoGatwickorTonbridge

FocusSouthCoast&Brighton

• Southern/ThameslinkhavesystematicallycutRedhillLineofffromtheSouthCoastsince2007 (duetoinsufficientinfrastructureinvestmentbyDfT)

• LocalBusinessneedcommuters/passengersfromtheSouth.NoticeddeclinesinceArunValleytrainsdiverted

• CommuterstoThreeBridges,HaywardsHeathandBrightoncan’tusetrainsserviceduetocomplexchanges

• ForReigateitisatwochangepropositiontoheadSouth• Hencepeopletendtodrive

FocusSouthCoast&Brighton(2)• WhydoesRedhilllineneedaserviceto/fromBrighton?• TherearekeyemploymentcentresatGatwick/ThreeBridges,HaywardsHeath,BurgessHillandBrightonthatthereisaneedtocommuteto

• RedhillandReigatearekeyemploymentareasandstaffneedtobeabletoaccesstheareadirectlybytrain.IftherewasaBrightontrain,thenRedhillwouldhavedirectconnectionandReigatewithonechange

• TheproposedsituationmeansthatacommuterfromRedhillDistrict/ReigatetoBrightoniseffectivelyforcedontocarstogettowork.ItalsowillmakeitdifficultforReigateandRedhillbusinessestoattractlabourfromtheSouthwhichwouldbebeneficialforthesebusinesses

• Withplanningrestrictionsoncarparkingspacesatofficesbeingenforcedbusinessesareincreasinglylookingtogetpeopletocometoworkbytrain.NothavingdirectserviceswillmakeRedhillandReigatelessattractivetobusinessesandalsotocommuters.

FocusSouthCoast&Brighton(3)

Stations on Brighton Main Line from Purley to Brighton

Main Station - Sizes 2018 timetable proposed: -

London Direction Other direction

Pass Nos:

Trains to Victoria

Trains to LBG

Trains to Brighton

Trains to Gatwick

Major Stations

Brighton 19.0 4.0 4.0 n/a 8.0 Gatwick Airport 18.5 10.0 8.0 8.0 n/a

Large StationsHaywards Heath 5.1 4.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 Redhill 4.7 2.0 4.0 5.0 Three Bridges 4.1 2.0 6.0 4.0 8.0 Purley 3.8 4.0 6.0 4.0

Minor StationsBurgess Hill 1.7 1.0 4.0 5.0 4.0 Coulsdon South 1.7 2.0 2.0 2.0 Hassocks 1.3 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 Horley 0.9 1.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 Merstham 0.7 2.0 2.0 2.0 Earlswood 0.5 2.0 2.0 Wivelsfield 0.5 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 Preston Park 0.4 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 Balcombe 0.1 2.0 2.0 2.0 Salfords 0.1 2.0 2.0

FocusSouthCoast&Brighton(4)

RRDRUA Proposal – 2 trains per hour to call on London Victoria to Brighton route• WeproposetheSemi-fastSoutherntrainfromLondontoBrightoncallatRedhill,Gatwick,ThreeBridges,BurgessHillandBrighton

• Smalladjustmentsinothertrainstoallowthis• ProvidesRedhillwithhalf-hourlyservicetoBrightonthroughouttheday(hourlySundayasnow)

• BrightonhasfastGatExservicefromLondonVictoria(callsGatwickonly)plus4trainsperhourfromLondonBridge/Thamestink,soextra9minutesonsemi-fastwon’tbeanissue.

SummaryofproposalsaboveGTRproposals

• ReigateservedhalfhourlyfromLondon7daysaweek• ServicetoReigatesplitsatRedhillwithservicesalternatelytoTonbridgeorGatwick(callingatEarlswood,SalfordsandHorley)

• Semi-fastBrightontraincalladditionallyatRedhill– halfhourlyinweekandhourlyonSunday

• IfBrightontraincannotbeadded,dateforservicetobeadded.ReigatetraintorunfasttoEastCroydonandThameslinktrainspickupMerstham,CouldonSouthandPurleystops.

Conclusion

• GTRshouldsticktopromisesmadeandimprovetrainservicealongtheRedhillline

• Providethetrainsandpassengerswillfillthem– plentyofpotential

• Massivehouseconstructionwillneedadditionaltrains

• Welookforwardtothesummerupdatewithallourproposalsincluded.