Will Sydenham lose its Victoria service?

[admin]

From January 2015 the construction of the Bermondsey 'diveunder' will restrict services between London Bridge and New Cross Gate to just one line each way. Hence there will have to be a reduction in the maximum number of trains per hour. It is rumoured that this could include the LBG-VIC loop through Sydenham/Crystal Palace. The Victoria trains would terminate at Crystal Palace and TfL would run two extra Overground services from Crystal Palace through Sydenham. TfL are keen to do this because of their pixie (passengers in excess of capacity) issue at Honor Oak and Brockley.

A report I was reading says:

Welcome though these rumoured extra pixie busters would be, they would, of course, only be 5 cars long. Depending on which rumour you believe, these will either be additional trains taking the East London Line up to its design capacity of 18tph, or they will merely be the diversion of two of the 4tph New Cross trains. The latter option would enable the current ELL core frequency to be maintained and so not introduce potential issues there as the ELL core is pushed towards its limit – Canada Water platform re-occupation time being a particular issue.

If the rumour of extra London Overground trains is true it almost certainly won’t mean more capacity on the slow lines between Sydenham and New Cross Gate, as they will probably occupy the former slots of Southern trains that will from January 2015 terminate from the west at Crystal Palace during the London Bridge works (having originated from Victoria). Of course the replacement London Overground service to Dalston Junction will only be 5 cars long instead of the original Southern service of 8 or 10 cars to London Bridge.

Full article here: http://www.londonreconnections.com/2014 ... on-bridge/
Very worth a read. Can anyone substantiate?

Admin

[Suzee]

http://www.southernrailway.com/southern ... uary-2015/

From the .pdf on here there are many Southern train changes from Jan 2015. I've already spotted that my 6.48 to London Bridge (i.e. the 6.19 from Victoria) will no longer reach Sydenham. Alternative is just to get a later (and busier) train. It's difficult to spot if any other services are affected.

It will be sad if we lose the Vic-LB line. We don't all want to go to Canary Wharf and Shoreditch. It is useful if travelling via Clapham Junction to the south west.

[mosy]

We use it a lot to get to Clapham Junction for SW (Putney, Wimbledon) also, so hope it will still be available one way or another.

[parker]

This would be about the worst thing that could happen. Time to move I think really...

[Rachael]

For those at the right end of Sydenham, Penge East is a viable alternative, plus the service to Victoria from there is much quicker.

[blakewho]

Damn. Looks like my usual train, the 08.15 from Streatham Hill to London Bridge (08.28 from Sydenham) will be cancelled from January!

[Eagle]

Blake

At least you have good notice. Nothing worse than standing on the station waiting for a train that will not come.

[alywin]

We use it a lot to get to Clapham Junction for SW (Putney, Wimbledon) also, so hope it will still be available one way or another.

So do I. It's a really useful link to have. After all, who wants to do Syd>Surrey Docks>Clapham Junction if they don't have to?

But as regards Wimbledon, Penge East>Herne Hill>Wimbledon is a possibility for those appropriately located. Provided, of course, that you don't try it at weekends when one or the other service is out because of engineering works. And the Wimbledon Loop is slooooooooow - 5 minutes between stations, it feels like - but it does get you there.

[Rover]

Bd news. Is it worth setting up an online petition?