The article re Boris meeting worried travellers/passengers is only about the loop line from London Bridge to Victoria, not about Southern cutting our services before the arrival of ELLX.

Yes - it's not actually 'our' London Bridge - Victoria loop that's discussed.

Nice to see a newspaper fully supporting their public campaign, though, with downloadable and published posters and stuff

I'm concerned that the issue of the direct service to Charing Cross is being buried in all this. For those of us who do not commute daily into London but who visit the West End in the evenings, this is the most unwelcome of the proposed changes. Has anyone responded to Forester's post on 15 October, below?

I think London TravelWatch answered that question best, see: http://www.se23.com/forum/showthread.php...8#pid20958

Thanks, Michael, for reminding us of the earlier post. From the reply which SE23Northerner got from London Travel Watch, we are lacking an explanation of why DfT told Southeastern that they could assume for the purposes of the December 2009 timetable that no Southern services will run through to Charing Cross, even during evenings and weekends. From what we have been told, that assumption was not originally part of Network Rail's Rail Utilisation Strategy for South London.

Has anyone (eg any of our MPs) actually asked DfT for an explanation of this decision? Perhaps SE23Northerner could share with us any reply he has had to the letter he said he was going to write to them. Either there are some facts of which we are unaware, or DfT are prima facie guilty of maladministration.

I completely agree with robin orton - I use the line for work but not as a regular commuter. It's the direct service home from Trafalgar Square which is the biggest issue for me.

I am still keen to know what contact, if any, has been made with other groups (similar to this forum perhaps) that might exist near each of the stations along the line to Caterham. If people are not aware of the issue, they are unlikely to register their complaints.

Michael, could you elaborate on this - or update?

I've had no reply from DfT.

But Caroline Pidgeon, Val Shawcross and Jenny Jones are off to meet the Minister next week, as per Happysnapper's link: http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/00,news,16266,185,00.htm

Not very likely that the FH line will be on the agenda for that particular meeting, is it?

But I see that Jim Dowd's Parliamentary Report 2009 , which came through my letter box recently, says that he is 'making urgent enquiries with Southern Railway and the Department for Transport' about 'the withdrawal of the direct Charing Cross to FH/Sydenham service in December 2009 and a reduction in off peak services to London Bridge.' And in a reply I received on 26 October to an email I'd sent him, he says, 'This week I joined Sir Steve Bullock (Mayor of Lewisham), Len Duvall (Lewisham and Greenwich GLA Assembly Member), Lewisham Councillors of all Parties and local residents groups in signing an open letter to the South London Press and Sadiq Khan (Transport Minister) urging him to meet us on behalf of local rail travellers.' I can't however find any trace of this letter on the SLP website or elsewhere - has anyone seen the text?

I don't think this has anything to do with the issue we are discussing here. It looks like this meeting is about the LBG-VIC loop which goes via Denmark Hill and Peckham.

Can I please just ask what the next step in the campaign is as I talked to a lady on the train home the other day and she lives in Sydenham and had no idea about the train cuts. She also had a friend in Forest Hill who she text about the cuts who also had no idea.

I saw that the Lib Dems are now making this a political weapon against the Conversatives from the leaflets that were dropped through the door this weekend. What is disappointing about this is that it just said that the "Conservative run Department of Transport" was reponsible but it didn't give any details about the cuts and just seemed to be a political weapon. I thought that there was cross party support for this instead of pointless fighting against each other?

Something doesn't sound right. I thought that DfT was still controlled by the Labour government. TfL is Conservative (Boris) controlled.

I think I found the Lib Dem leaflet http://tamora4deptford.blogspot.com/2009...r-oak.html
which does refer to Conservative run TfL, in relation to the proposed Crofton Park service to Victoria, rather than the previous paragraph which correctly identifies the Labour party as running the DfT.

I would far prefer that this is not a party political issues, and the cross-party support for the campaign has been helpful, though not actually productive yet. Whether you think the Lib Dem leaflet is useful, constructive, or fair, I will leave to you to decide. What I am pleased to see is that this is an issue for various political parties in their local leaflets.

I agree that it's good that they are putting it in their local leaflets but it does concern me that the issue may not be addressed and instead is used as a political bashing tool against another party.

I'm not entirely sure that saying 'open Cannon Street in the late evening so that Southeastern services can go in there rather than into Charing X' is the best argument to support the fact that a late-night link back from the West End is vital. If it's vital for us, it's vital for (juts thumb to east) them. Cannon Street is neither gluteus maximus nor elbow, being less well connected than either of the other two stations and not really walking distance from anywhere one might be.

On a separate note, it's comforting to see the return of train delays in the morning rush hour. Like clockwork every Autumn into winter. There are obviously some bright sparks in the timetabling offices.

I'm not paranoid, but I wonder if my posts are getting through (a recent post to 'Empty Properties in SE23' never showed up then the thread seemed to disappear - and a PM to admin yielded no result).

Anyway (if they are), I quote my recent post:

Although the text of the letter was not published by SLP, you can see John Russell holding a copy of it here

I can see your post Foresters - I just don't know the answers!

Although the Sydenham Forum is also battling alongside SE23, I do not know if the Brockley or New Cross Gate equivalents are discussing the loss of services.

As an aside, does anyone know what the London Bridge to Crystal Palace service is like? I believe they have other routes not on the Forest Hill line which may be helpful once the ELL is up and running.

It had been my intention to get to work on the petitioning at local station. However, it would be inappropriate for me to carry out such actions based on the fact that I am sanctimonious, self righteous and constantly like to tell others what to think and no alternative point of view can ever count or be as good as mine.

As such I am taking a step back from any public campaigning for the moment.

I'm confused. I'm assuming, Michael, that someone has had a go at you somewhere - on this forum? I have seen nothing from you apart from considerable effort and energy.

I was under the impression, though, that the campaigning and suport you were giving was on behalf of the FHS. Is this incorrect?

If I am wrong, who would be 'responsible' for co-ordinating such a campaign? Or who is able - at this late stage..?

I'm confused as well. It seems like you're the best man for the job Michael and if someone HAS said something, to hell with them. Surely it's the "cause" at hand that is important here?