Greenwich Council to quiz Southeastern on rail services

A meeting this week will see Greenwich Council question Southeastern on the future of rail services.

The borough has three Southeastern metro lines running east to west via the Woolwich, Eltham and New Eltham with all seeing service cuts in 2022, of which many still remain.

The annual meeting is a chance for councillors to question the rail operator which is fully owned and controlled by government – and has been since 2021.

Hopefully Greenwich councillors can gain some solid answers as unlike other boroughs who have meetings with the rail company four times a year, Greenwich only do it once.

Answers

I’ve watched more than a few of these meetings now with various councils to have a decent idea of how it will go. Southeastern will talk of various improvements though its likely some will be on areas outside of London (eg on their mainline, long distance stock) of little relevance to south east London and of those issues in London, not a great deal of information will be new.

I expect they’ll talk about a current strategy being undertaken for the future of Southeastern metro. That’s what they revealed in a Bexley council meeting earlier this year.

Here’s what would be good to discover:

Cuts

When and will those 2022 cuts be reversed? For example, off-peak services through Greenwich dropping from four per hour to just two. Coupled with an unreliable Thameslink service it often results in long service intervals in areas of major housing growth.

Similarly, when will the train trains per hour off-peak via Kidbrooke be reinstated? I’d expect Southeastern to talk of adding some more trains at night in December 2025 but that didn’t restore daytime 2 tph services to Charing Cross. Again, those trains serve areas of major housing growth such as Kidbrooke.

We know it’s not happening in the May 2026 timetable change, but is there a solid plan to restore axed services and if so when?

New stock

It’s now years since Southeastern first announced plans to replace the Networkers. Is a confirmation expected before summer?

If the DfT aren’t interested in approving a new order what’s the plan for the Networkers? Refurbish?

Stations and staffing

Many metro stations still see very limited staffing. Major changes in towns with the advent of thousands of homes have not resulted in an increase in scheduled staffing levels. Knowledge of housing growth seems limited. It’s not being matched by a well-staffed network.

While Southeastern have run hiring programmes recently after staff shortages became endemic, this merely meant that rather than dozens of stations being completely unstaffed they now have a skeleton level of staffing.

It’s noticeable how limited many station staffing levels are compared to the tube, Elizabeth line and other Train Operating Companies such as Greater Anglia.

We know many Southeastern metro stations are seeing double digit growth and thousands more homes are planned around many stations. Just this week a tower near Westcombe Park could be given the green light as well as a development in Woolwich.

Plumstead station has more than two thousand homes at a number of developments in close proximity.

It’s not all bad of course and Plumstead, for example, has seen lifts installed.

Around 1,000 homes are also on the way around sleepy Woolwich Dockyard station. Blocks are currently rising near Greenwich station. Pretty much all have minimal staffing levels.

Liz line distraction

It often appears Southeastern metro is being overlooked due to the arrival of the Elizabeth line in contrast to TfL modes of rail. They didn’t cut London Overground when the Liz line begun. London Overground then reached its pre-pandemic usership within a short period of time. It was the same with the DLR until new rolling stock hit problems.

Whilst the Elizabeth line is of course extremely popular it doesn’t serve major destinations such as Greenwich, Lewisham, London Bridge, Waterloo East, Cannon Street or Charing Cross. City and West End stations on the Elizabeth line are a good walk from SE metro stations so serve different customers.

Another cut that would be good to see raised is that between Woolwich, Charlton and Lewisham on Sundays. Lewisham is to become a bigger destination when its new cinema opens as well as the shopping centre redevelopment. The 180 bus which formerly linked Charlton to Lewisham no longer does.

Trains

With rolling stock there’s the Class 376 upgrade for example which I’m sure Southeastern will want to talk about. Welcome as it is, doesn’t address main issues with the stock which is no air con so they’re extremely hot in summer as well as no toilets.

The Class 707s are to see toilets installed which is welcome. Though even when combined both those fleets total fewer in number than Networkers which remain the bulk of the fleet.

So plenty to talk about and hopefully some answers are heard which can give a pointer to restoring cut services and any new train order.

It should be noted these issues aren’t really down to Southeastern or its management. In all likelihood they do want to undertake improvements but the Department for Transport under this government continue blocking requests.

The idea of investing to reap the rewards seems alien to the DfT despite it being shown time and again on other modes of rail that investment brings returns. On Southeastern metro its an open goal for growth (above and beyond the strong increase already being seen) given the sheer amount of new homes and potential custom in many towns.

As long as the DfT say no and fail to restore turn-up-and-go service levels, potential will not be realised to the fullest.