Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter May 2024
By Neil Roth
We covered the reduced Southeastern timetable, imposed on passengers from 11/12/22 without consultation, in Newsletters 47 and 49 (January and September 2023). We now focus on the Greenwich line (Deptford to Westcombe Park) and the Woolwich line (Charlton to Slade Green) which are served by both Southeastern and Thameslink trains.
Following 11/12/22, passengers on these lines complained not only about the reduction in train service, but also that the remaining trains are unevenly spaced.
For example, from Greenwich station itself, Monday to Friday off-peak, there are currently four trains per hour towards Central London departing at: 11, 18, 41 and 48 minutes past each hour and four trains in the ‘country’ direction departing at: 7, 27, 37 and 57 minutes past each hour.
Usage of Greenwich station by National Rail passengers in 2022-23 fell to 65 per cent of what it had been in 2018-19 whereas the number of DLR passengers using the same station in 2022 was very nearly equal to the number in 2019. The DLR service did not change; the Southeastern timetable change correlates with a significant decline in patronage.
By contrast, the new Woolwich station on the Elizabeth line saw 8.34 million passengers in 2022-23 (close to the 9.925 million at Canary Wharf Elizabeth line the same year). That shows the enormous level of demand for high-quality, fast, frequent, accessible public transport in the Woolwich area. We are reminded that the original plans for Crossrail excluded a station at Woolwich: Nick Raynsford MP and others had to campaign for it and to find funding.
The new Southeastern timetable from June 2024 will still schedule four trains per hour Monday to Friday off-peak on the Greenwich line and six trains per hour (including two which run via Lewisham) on the Woolwich line. Trains on both Greenwich and Woolwich lines will be spaced more evenly than currently.
However, Thameslink trains do not currently call at Woolwich Dockyard station, so it has no direct service to/from the Thameslink stations between Luton and Rainham and only four Southeastern trains per hour in each direction Monday to Friday off peak. This is one of several reasons why Woolwich Dockyard station is seriously underused. Nearby housing developments risk bringing more motorists and more on-street parking.
Greenwich Councillor (and FTL member) Asli Mohammed, who represents Woolwich Dockyard ward, has been negotiating with Southeastern and Thameslink for a long ‘shopping list’ of improvements to Woolwich Dockyard station, including for Thameslink trains to call there and step-free access to/from the London platform, which is 24 steps below street level.
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