Today I followed up on a recent discussion with Southern and Thameslink Railway by meeting with them and Network Rail to discuss local rail issues.
First and foremost we talked about their performance and service reliability. Whilst this has improved, there are still concerns about delays and cancellations, so I was pleased to be able to raise this on behalf of Carshalton and Wallington residents. I was assured that they are undergoing a programme of improvements to make their services more reliable, so I look forward to seeing their progress.
However, I also wanted to raise the issue of frequency on the lines, as well as problems at the actual stations.
Network Rail are currently undergoing a massive project at Norwood Junction to unlock the 'Croydon bottleneck'. This is currently a very congested junction and prevents rail companies from being able to add on any additional services. Once completed, this should unlock extra capacity on the lines.
I also spoke about the large gap between the train at the platform at Carshalton Beeches and Hackbridge stations, as well as the need to make the southbound Platform at Carshalton Beeches more accessible.
We also had a discussion about Beddington residents living between Waddon and Wallington, who have a longer journey to a station than most other Carshalton and Wallington residents.
Finally, I spoke about my campaign to get the London Overground extended to Sutton via Waddon, Wallington and Carshalton Beeches stations.
They have agreed to go away and look at all of the issues I raised, so I will be organising a follow up meeting with them and TfL to see what progress has been made.