News surfaced nationally at the end of last week of cuts to be made by the government to rail services in view of the current much reduced useage during the ongoing third national lockdown. The impact of the decisions made on our local train services (Gipsy Hill, West Norwood and Tulse Hill stations) is now becomng clear. Services have been severely reduced and its not clear when they will be returned to normal, but the best guess is not before Easter at the earliest. Train services are curently provided for essential travel only.
From West Norwood and Gipsy Hill there are only trains to Victoria and to West Croydon every 30 minutes. Both London Bridge services have been axed; National Rail enquiries now suggest a route via Victoria, takng over an hour and involving two changes. A better route to London Bridge for most will be to take the bus to Tulse Hill and then the now only half hourly service to Peckham Rye and London Bridge. Also, the Thameslink service from Tulse Hill will take you to Blackfriars for connection with another Thameslink service on to London Bridge. For stations between Sydenham and New Cross Gate change at Crystal Palace. For Beckenham Junction take the 322 or 432 bus to Crystal Palace and change to a 227 or 358. For Birkbeck take the 432 to Anerley station and change to a 354 bus.
As London TravelWatch* commented yesterday:
'It is disappointing to hear that those in south London will bear the brunt of rail service cuts on GTR {locally: Southern Railway and Thameslink} from Monday, particularly those travelling into London Bridge, with many services reduced to every half hour in addition to the already withdrawn extra peak hour services to and from the Wimbledon loop and Epsom. And passengers will only get to see the amended timetables when they go online tomorrow. People living in South London get a really raw deal when it comes to public transport links and we are pleased to see TfL say today that they want to work with the Government to improve National Rail in South London. It can’t come a moment too soon‘.
* London TravelWatch is the official watchdog organisation representing the interests of transport users in and around the capital. Officially known as London Transport Users Committee, it was established in July 2000.
With our thanks to Friends of West Norwood Station, follow the group of Facebook here.