►►The inadequate and misleading poster on show at some of south London's stations.◀◀
London's orbital rail network will be completed next month (from Sunday 9 December 2012) when trains start running from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction.
The changeover to London Overground will be the most important boost to the South London Line and its stations since off-peak and weekend services were restored over 20 years ago, thanks to campaigning by the South London Line Travellers’ Association.
Before that, the line had become very dilapidated, with trains running unreliably during Monday to Friday peaks only, and appallingly neglected stations. Clapham High Street station was voted joint Worst Station in Britain in 1989.
SoLLTA was formed in 1987 in an attempt to reverse the decline, and Railfuture (then RDS) was instrumental in its formation, as was Lambeth Public Transport Group.
Since its early-1990s revival, the line has become a thriving cross-city link again, with many people using it to commute to and from Battersea Park and Victoria.
However the new Overground service will leave some passengers in south London badly affected, as the Southern service from Victoria to London Bridge via Peckham Rye will be withdrawn.
The withdrawal of service from Battersea Park and links to Victoria will inconvenience many people, whose journeys will become significantly longer and less comfortable. They will have to change on to already-crowded Victoria trains at Clapham Junction in the morning peak.
Advance publicity for this major change has been appalling, and a publicity drive is due to start only on Friday 23 November, just two weeks before the withdrawal of the service.
By comparison, the withdrawal of the weekly Ealing-Wandsworth Road ghost bus after the last one runs on 4 December has been prominently advertised at Wandsworth Road for weeks!
When the Overground extension was first mooted, a replacement Victoria service was also promised, running between Victoria and Bellingham. This would have plugged the gap, but it disappeared as the plans progressed.
Local campaigners and councils made strong representations to Transport for London, the Mayor and the Department for London, in an attempt to get at least some kind of replacement Victoria service (possibly with extra stops on existing services) but without significant success.
So once London Overground takes over, Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill will lose a major chunk of their Victoria service, although SouthEastern’s Victoria trains will still call.
Other SLL stations, Wandsworth Road, Clapham High Street, Queens Road Peckham and South Bermondsey will lose their Victoria service altogether, although Wandsworth Road will get one token Victoria train each way courtesy of extra stops by South Eastern. Not that these will be much use to aggrieved commuters, as they comprise a train FROM Victoria around 05.30, and a train TO Victoria in the evening, which campaigners say is taking the Mickey more than somewhat.
Campaigners say that if SouthEastern trains are able to stop there, why can they not do so at times that would be useful? There will also be a residual one train each way daily between Highbury and Battersea Park (to avoid the need for formal closure).
The lone train will also allow drivers to retain their "knowledge" so the route can be used as an alternative when access to Clapham Junction is blocked. Again, these trains will run at near-useless times.
Local people and user groups say they will continue to campaign for a replacement Victoria link to be provided.
It could be done by putting additional stops into SouthEastern services between Victoria and Dartford and/or Victoria to Orpington. The latter would be especially useful as it would provide a link between the SLL/ELL and Brixton – the biggest town centre on its route - which the new Overground service will pass above without being able to stop there.
A new Brixton High Level stop on the Overground was ruled out, as the expense of construction would, allegedly, have been so huge it might have derailed the whole project, but it has to be a priority for the future.
More information: TfL
Southwark Rail Users Group
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