a) Timetable Update & Winter Timetable Update
Yvonne Leslie (Govia Thameslink Railway)
b) Off-peak services
Yvonne Leslie (Govia Thameslink Railway)
c) Gatwick Service from Purley
Yvonne Leslie (Govia Thameslink Railway)
d) East Croydon to Blackfriars and St Pancras Service Increase
Yvonne Leslie (Govia Thameslink Railway)
e) Access for All – West Croydon, Norwood Junction, Reedham & Waddon
Yvonne Leslie (Govia Thameslink Railway)
Sam Russell (London Overground Rail Operations Limited)
f) London Overground Performance Update
Michelle Wildish (Transport for London)
Minutes:
a) Timetable Update & Winter Timetable Update
The Govia Thameslink Railway representative began by updating the Panel on the Summer timetable, which had had the best performance since the start of the Southern contract for the end of the period. It was explained that were no additional timetable changes planned until the next national timetable change.
For Thameslink and Great Northern, the interim timetable had been introduced from the 15 July 2018; more services had been running, but still not at the level that had been proposed in the initial timetable. The Panel were informed that 85% of trains had been running within five minutes of scheduled times and that most peak services had been reintroduced during September 2018.
The representative elaborated that there were no big changes planned for the Winter timetable and that services would carry on being introduced with the aim of meeting the original timetable. It was further stated that the PDF of the timetable would be available at the end of October 2018.
Action Point – forGovia Thameslink Railway to report back on the progress of reintroducing services to meet the full timetable.
b) Off-peak services
The Govia Thameslink Railway representative explained that off-peak services were being slowly reintroduced, but that peak services had been the priority.
Both the Head of Transport and the Mobility Forum representative raised concerns regarding trains running through Norwood Junction; the Govia Thameslink Railway representative answered that if services were not on the base timetable, they may be still be added.
Action Point – forGovia Thameslink Railway to report back on the progress of reintroduction of off-peak services.
c) Gatwick Service from Purley
The Govia Thameslink Railway representative informed the Panel that this service had only been removed as part of the interim timetable and would be reintroduced.
d) East Croydon to Blackfriars and St Pancras Service Increase
The Govia Thameslink Railway representative informed the Panel that this service had only decreased as part of the interim timetable and would be increased starting with peak services and then moving to off-peak services.
e) Access for All – West Croydon, Norwood Junction, Reedham & Waddon
The Govia Thameslink Railway representative informed the Panel that assessments were being done on all of their stations based on the criteria from the Department for Transport (DfT) and Network Rail in order to prioritise the stations most in need. The Head of Transport thanked the representative for engaging the Council in this process; it was also noted that TfL had not done this and no Croydon stations had featured on their list of priorities despite having worked closely together over West Croydon Station.
The TfL representative explained that West Croydon Station was not a priority for TfL as there were stations on their network with zero step free access. It was also stated that Norwood Junction had not been considered as implementing step free access was not considered feasible, but that the bid was still in draft form and had not yet been submitted to DfT.
The Head of Transport challenged this assertion, stating that Network Rail had provided multiple step free solutions to the Council when consulted. The TfL representative explained that they had not had access to this information and it was agreed the Head of Transport would share it after the meeting.
Action Point – forGovia Thameslink Railway and TfL to update the Panel on the state of the Access for All bids at the next meeting.
Action Point – for the Head of Transport to share the Network Rail accessibility assessment with TfL.
f) London Overground Performance Update
The TfL representative updated the Panel with the Overground performance at West Croydon Station. During September to July 2018 there had been a slight dip in performance with 85% of trains arriving within five minutes of their scheduled time; however, this had recovered by July 2018 where the level had returned to 93%.
The Head of Transport stated that he had noticed the dip in performance but was pleased that the service had recovered. The London Trams representative explained that Network Rail assets (such as signals) had contributed to this performance dip, but that this had improved. The Panel also learned of efforts from TfL to gain priority on certain track over other operators from Network Rail.
The Access Officer enquired as to if returning the Overground platform back to the one it had originally been would improve the situation at all. The London Trams representative informed the Panel that suggestions were being taken to the Alliance Board to see what improvements could be made, but that it should be noted that the Overground was still the best performing operator.