Thameslink services – end to evening and weekend closures

Since December 2008, the Thameslink route had been closed between St Pancras International  and London Bridge/Herne Hill every night and most weekends because of engineering work.

This has now finished, and as of 19th May, a new timetable has been implemented.

For the full link to timetable changes, see the Thameslink website.

Wimbledon Station waiting rooms

Currently being refurbished. Means there’s temporarily no books in the Book Swap!

In the meantime, catch up with Book Swaps for London to see how getting book swaps in London’s train and tube stations is going.

Blue badge bays at Wimbledon Station

As part of the recent works on Wimbledon Station forecourt as part of Destination Wimbledon, there are now two disabled  (blue badge) parking bays on the slip road by the taxi rank.

However, it’s not at all clear how residents can access these. If one drives into the slip road from Alexandra Road, there are signs saying that the taxi rank/slip road is not accessible to the public and also, the taxis in the rank are often blocking the way through to the disabled parking bays.

We asked Merton Council about this, and they said:

1) The road is open to people wishing to use the blue badge bays.
2) The taxis should not be ranking on the right hand side of the road. The road belongs to Network Rail and is the responsibility of South West Trains (SWT) as the station operator although because the Council has been involved in the station forecourt redevelopment we have sent letters to the taxi drivers and also paid for signs to be erected to tell them not to rank on the right. However we have no powers of enforcement and as such the matter relies on SWT rather than the council.

I am sorry that I cannot provide a solution but we are pressing SWT to increase their enforcement of the restrictions on the Service Road and to remind Taxi drivers that the road is private and that they can impose controls on access to that road for taxis.

Given that the Council just seem to be throwing up their hands in despair about this, we are seeking a meeting with SWT to discuss what they can do.

Making public transport more affordable

This morning Liberal Democrats across London have been out and about talking to commuters about London Lib Dems’ 5 point plan for fairer fares. The plan includes proposals for ‘One Hour Bus Tickets’ allowing passengers to “hop on and off as many times as necessary within an hour”, early bird rates, part time Travelcards and the reinstatement of the Zone 2-6 Travelcard.

Here in Merton, local Lib Dem campaigners were in Wimbledon, Mitcham and Morden town centres, talking to people about the One Hour Bus Ticket. Later this evening, they’ll be doing the same in Raynes Park.

You can sign the petition supporting the One Hour Bus Ticket here and you can take Brian Paddick’s Transport survey here.

 

South London Bookswaps [updated]

The Book Swaps for London blog argues that “When it comes to Station book swapping, it really is all about South London“.

There are book swaps at Wimbledon, Raynes Park and (reportedly) Morden stations. You can find out more about the Wimbledon Station bookswap here.

The Book Swaps for London blog aims to support book swaps in “200 of the near 700 underground and rail stations in Greater London” in time for the Olympics.

Update: BookMachine interviews London Book Swap (Jan 2012).

Save our Thameslink: Transport department says all still to fight for

Cutting the 'Wimbledon Loop' would affect several Merton stations.

Following Network Rail’s plans to cut the direct Thameslink rail link between south London, the City and central London (known as the ‘Wimbledon loop’), Merton’s Liberal Democrats have launched the “Save our Thameslink” petition.

The Thameslink Programme Team at the Department for Transport have recently responded to questions from local campaigners:

The proposal that Wimbledon Loop services should be amongst the eight trains that terminate at Blackfriars was included in Network Rail’s South London Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) . . . 

Tories: a bit too little, too late on Wimbledon Chase Railway Bridge

The Tory London Assembly Member for Merton & Wandsworth has tabled a question for London Mayor Boris Johnson asking him:

The Wimbledon Chase Station Bridge is covered in graffiti. Will you write to Network Rail calling for them to repaint it?

Perhaps Conservative Richard Tracey AM just wasn’t present when Lib Dem Caroline Pidgeon asked Boris the same question back in July 2010?

Boris wasn’t keen to help then, but perhaps Mr Tracey will have more luck.

However, the timing of Mr Tracey’s question is very peculiar given Network Rail’s announcement on 28 October that it would clean up the worst parts of the bridge. This announcement followed a two year campaign to get them to take action.

Perhaps it would be worth him flicking through the Wimbledon Guardian each week – they covered the story on 1 November.

Wimbledon Chase Railway Bridge Success: Graffiti Cleared!

Caroline Pidgeon (centre) investigates the bridge back in 2009. The graffiti has now gone!

Welcome news that one of our original “six to fix” has been fixed!

The Messy Train Land Blog was pleased to receive the following press release from London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon yesterday afternoon:

After years of pressure from Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, Network Rail has finally agreed to repaint parts of the railway bridge at Wimbledon Chase station in order to cover up the offensive and antisocial graffiti on the bridge.

End of the line for Thameslink ‘Wimbledon loop’?

Network Rail has said it may cut the direct link between south London, the City and central London, commonly known as the ‘Wimbledon loop’, after the Thameslink upgrade is completed in 2016.

As a result of the change, trains would terminate at Blackfriars, leaving thousands of commuters without a direct link to several London stations and other busy train stations throughout the south east. (the Thameslink programme’s FAQs can be seen here.)

Foul state of lifts at Wimbledon Station

Merton Council and South West Trains (SWT) were very keen to respond to criticism about difficulties caused by the new station forecourt design.

Residents had written into the local paper to complain about access to the station for those with mobility issues. However, in terms of accessibility, if you can’t use stairs the station platforms are only accessible via rather horrible lifts.