A number of residents have contacted me about the cancellation of the Tattenham Corner to London Victoria service. I've liaised with GTR who have provided the following comprehensive reply:
Thank you for your email regarding Southern services at Tattenham Corner.
Regrettably, from Monday 26 July 2021 train services and times have changed on five Southern and Thameslink routes as we introduced a reduced weekday timetable in response to the effects of coronavirus.
Unfortunately, following the effect of seventeen months of disruption to the business and a sharp rise in staff now needing to isolate, we are seeing an increase in short notice cancellations. We know cancellations are hugely frustrating for customers and have made it increasingly difficult to plan journeys.
While a reduced timetable will make some journeys more difficult, by reducing services on a planned basis, we expect to be able to strengthen services across the network in general, creating more reliability for our customers under the current circumstances.
Wherever possible, these weekday changes have focused on routes where there is overlap with alternative services. We chose to introduce these changes in the week of 26 July, to avoid disrupting schools and colleges.
In terms of what this means at a local level, the direct Tattenham Corner to London Bridge service has been suspended. In its place is a shuttle train service to Purley, operating at a half-hourly frequency at busy times, and hourly throughout the day. Southern and Thameslink services are making additional station stops at Purley and Purley Oaks to provide as many journey options as possible.
We know these changes are difficult for some of our customers and we are very sorry. Unfortunately, with our Covid-related absence across the business climbing from around 140 people four weeks ago, to nearly 500 as of today, we felt we needed to act quickly to seek to create more of a stable base for our customers. We do know that this choice in itself has significant consequences for our customers, and from the Tattenham Corner perspective – results in a less convenient train service.
While this set of changes will help to improve the reliability of services, we may need to make further alterations on a day by day basis. We are asking customers to use www.nationalrail.co.uk to ensure that they are up to date with the latest information.
The service is being reviewed on a weekly basis, and should it be possible to do so on a reliable basis, then we will increase services, the short term priority being to increase the frequency of the off-peak shuttle.
In terms of improvements, the team is developing a new timetable to increase services in time for the return of schools and colleges. This will seek to restore direct services to London Bridge if at all possible. It will take several weeks to design and implement, but we will keep you updated.
With regards to services to London Victoria, connections are available at Purley and East Croydon – I do recognise that these connections will be much easier once the direct service to London Bridge is reinstated. We will keep you updated on future plans, but given the impact of coronavirus on our crew and on demand for rail services, it is very unlikely that additional services beyond those that were operating as of May 2021 will run before next year. Once the pressures of coronavirus have alleviated, additional services will be based on a review of customer demand, crew availability, funding availability and the negative consequence of additional services for punctuality and reliability for customers. There is a trade-off between the number of services that run, and the reliability and punctuality of all services for customers – and with a likely significant reduction to customer demand into the medium term, increases in services need to be very carefully assessed.
The priority at the moment is to increase services to a level closer to that that was operating prior to the 26 July 2021, and for Tattenham Corner – that is focusing on the all-day London Bridge service.
