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.

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).

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) . . . 

However RUS recommendations are not binding on the Government and many are never actually implemented. No decision has yet been made on whether to accept Network Rail’s proposal on the Wimbledon Loop.

I have been advised that Network Rail’s rationale here is operational. They currently believe that Thameslink will only operate reliably if trains have a run that is as clear as possible on their approaches to the central London section. However, it is by no means clear as to whether Network Rail’s recommended course of action for Wimbledon Loop services is actually necessary for a reliable Thameslink.

Network Rail is about to start an exercise to construct a ‘feasibility’ timetable for the delivery of the full twenty-four trains per hour Thameslink specification.

Once this is complete, it will be possible to judge whether the crossing movements at the south end of Blackfriars station are as constricting as Network Rail claim in the RUS.

A decision on the future of Wimbledon Loop services is therefore still some way off. It will not be made until after a public consultation.

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.

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.

In a letter from Network Rail’s Chief Executive David Higgins to Caroline Pidgeon, the company has promised to repaint the four corners of the bridge to help improve its appearance.

Caroline Pidgeon AM said:

“After years of campaigning on the issue of the unsightly graffiti on Wimbledon Chase Bridge, I am delighted that Network Rail has finally seen sense and is going to make much needed improvements by cleaning up the bridge.

“I have visited the bridge and spoken to local residents and business owners, who all agree that the graffiti has had a negative impact on the local area.”

“It took a lot of pressure and more than two years’ effort to get them to agree to this one simple improvement. If we hadn’t constantly hassled Network Rail and the Council – would it have happened at all?“We need a straightforward way of reporting these kind of problems and then action from the people who’re responsible. You shouldn’t need to be a transport expert to get rubbish and graffiti removed near where you live, just because it happens to be on railway land or structures.”

A two year campaign: a potted history

Caroline & the Wimbledon team celebrate bridge success.

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.)

The Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton & Wallington, Tom Brake has been in regular contact with Theresa Villiers, Transport Minister and also representatives from Thameslink to express the worries and concerns.

The campaign against changes to the service was begun back in July.

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.So, on 14 September we took the opportunity of “public questions” at Merton Council’s meeting, to ask:

You have responded to criticism that the Wimbledon Station forecourt redesign does not meet the needs of those with mobility difficulties. The station lifts are a key factor in access to the platforms, but are often in a foul state. Have you raised this with SWT, and if not, will you? 

The response of the relevant Councillor, Andrew Judge, was telling:

The station lifts are the responsibility of South West Trains (the station leaseholder) and Network Rail (the owner). The improvements works outside the station were delivered jointly between the council and the station operators, but any works/maintenance issues within the station building are outside the scope of the Destination Wimbledon project. However, the council is aware that South West Trains and Network Rail do have plans to upgrade the lifts, although officers do not have information relating to the specific
timing and extent of these works. Council officers regularly liaise with South West Trains and Network Rail as part of the Destination Wimbledon project and do raise such concerns and will continue to do so in the future.

We took this as “Not really our problem” – but the good news is that upgrade work seems to have begun on some of the lifts already.

Fix My Transport aims to make reporting public transport problems as easy as reporting pot-holes and broken street lights is on Fix My Street.

Problem issues can be outlined on the site, which will then work out who is responsible for the station, stop, bus, train, tram or ferry complained about, and forward your message straight to them. The site also allows other individuals to sign up to “support” your query, and get email updates on progress.

The lack of transparency over who is responsible for maintaining transport land is something we’ve long campaigned on (see for example, London Lib Dems’ 5 point plan to end Merton’s messy train land) and so this is a welcome development. However, at the moment with regards to trains you can only report problems at specific stations, or along specific routes – you can’t use the site to report issues to Network Rail, who are responsible for most of the trackside embankments and property (meaning we can’t use it to report the awful state of Wimbledon Chase bridge). We’ve been in touch with them about this already.

The awful state of the lifts at Wimbledon Station has already been reported – here and here!

NR said measures to reduce congestion should be identified by 2019. Apparently “A number of measures have been identified to ease congestion, ranging from encouraging more print-at-home ticketing or relocating information points, to more expensive options involving the provision of additional space”.

The Station forecourt has already undergone a significant change in layout.