Passenger Focus has today welcomed potential new services and faster trains for many passengers travelling in the south east of England.
Train company Southeastern has today published its draft timetable, including details of new high speed services being introduced in Kent.
Tunde Olatunji, Passenger Focus manager, commented: “Today’s announcement brings us one step closer to what should in time prove to be a much better rail service for the vast majority of Kent, East Sussex and South East London passengers.
“The biggest winners will be those commuting into London from east Kent and coastal towns, where the improvement on current journey times will be very significant and the brand new trains very welcome. A 69 minute commute from Dover is far more bearable than the current offering of anything up to two hours during peak times.
“We note that the new high speed services will attract a premium which will see anything up to a 35% increases on existing fares. We continue to have concerns about the affordability of premium fares at the levels being proposed, especially in the current challenging economic environment.”
Passenger Focus has welcomed the increase in capacity on Mainline services, including those in Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells, on the very heavily utilised Metro which will ease overcrowding on Bexleyheath and Greenwich Lines, and improving Grove Park services.
Mr Olatunji continued: “Along with other campaigners, we are pleased that we secured improvements to the original draft timetable but disappointed that this did not prevent the reduction in some services, such as those from Maidstone East to Cannon street and Charing Cross.”
The national passenger watchdog is encouraging passengers to review the draft timetable to see how the amendments in December will affect their journeys and give feedback to Southeastern before the timetable change.