Surbiton train service 'slower than before the war' (From Surrey Comet)
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Surbiton train service 'slower than before the war'
4:33pm Monday 9th March 2009 in News By Kim Lusher
Commuters spend the equivalent of up to four bank holidays a year waiting for trains at Surbiton Station
Today’s London commuters rely on trains that run slower than before the Second World War, according to an expert at one of the capital’s leading universities.
Studies of the busiest train services in and out of London have shown that rail passengers have an increased waiting time for services that take longer.
Tim Leunig of the London School of Economics said he found trains were running on average up to three minutes slower. Surbiton to Waterloo takes an extra two minutes compared with 1939, the research found.
He said: “People care about every minute. You could be waiting up to 29 hours a year, which would work out as four bank holidays being taken away.”
Mr Leunig said it all added up and was not going to improve overnight.
He said: “Waterloo would need to be improved. It’s not going to change in the short run, although there are no real problems around Surbiton, commuters are affected at Waterloo.”
MP for Kingston and Surbiton Edward Davey has campaigned to improve Waterloo, including more and longer platforms.
He said “Longer trains and more frequent services are needed.”
Mr Davey is unhappy his constituency has seen an increase in price for a service that is no better.
For commuters travelling from Surbiton to Waterloo the journey is two minutes longer than pre-war times.
He said the speed would improve if other areas of the service got better.
Mr Davey said: “Speed isn’t our biggest concern. Our biggest concerns are price and overcrowding.
“More capacity and less overcrowding will help with the speed potentially.
“There is no reason for the situation to get worse and it can be improved if the capacity of trains is improved.”
In two weeks Mr Davey will meet with the Minister of State for Transport, Lord Andrew Adonis.
Comments(7)
DB
says...
9:48am Tue 10 Mar 09
Overall though, there probably are more trains running on the line as places like Walton and West Byfleet get 4 trains an hour rather than 1 or 2 a few years ago.
Surbiton does need more trains. High house prices have meant even more London workers have moved out to Surbiton, unable to afford the prices further in. A massive number of flats have been built and houses converted in the last 30 years, so the actual population of the town has probably doubled.
SteveC1964
says...
10:19am Tue 10 Mar 09
Did you think to ask where Mr Leunig lives? And did you ask who's funding him at LSE to research why his train takes 2 minutes longer?
The fact is Mr Leunig that for many of us it isn't possible to add up 2 minutes from each day and take a day or 4 off. It does not "all add up".
Better to ask the question what you could do with an extra 2 minutes in your day. Not very much I'd say.
Oilexhaustion
says...
1:06pm Tue 10 Mar 09
Secondly, he has got his facts badly wrong when it comes to Surbiton. The fastest timetabled journey takes 17 minutes, just as in 1939 - not 19 minutes he quotes in his report. I travel from Surbiton every day and many fast jouneys from Waterloo actually take 15 minutes in reality, which is fatsre than it has ever been before (due to faster accelerating and braking trains plus faster points).
The report correctly states that the biggest problem at Surbiton is the daily overcrowding. This is not helped by the fact that some of the fast trains are only 8 car. Hope is on the horizon however as within the government's 1300 additional carriages for the rail network detailed 14 months ago, an extra 18*4 car have been assigned to South West Trains that should ensure come 2013, all fast trains through Surbiton will be increased to 12 car length, which should relieve this problem.
The big concern is that although in the DfT's rolling stock plan, these extra trains are yet to be ordered. With falling employment in Central London and a corresponding fall in peak passenger demand, they might fall victim to government cutbacks.
With regard to Waterloo, this year one of the old Eurostar platforms will be re-opened for domestic traffic, which can only help improve capacity there. Reinstating the remaining 4 platforms is having to wait for the bigger project that will see the extension of all Waterloo's platforms (except platform 1 & 2) to 12 car length and reworking the track arrangments in the Station approach.
James P
says...
2:03pm Tue 10 Mar 09
DB
says...
2:19pm Tue 10 Mar 09
Oilexhaustion wrote:Good points, and I agree with all of them. The 12 car trains would make a massive difference at Surbiton, as would re-opening the disused platforms at Waterloo.
Firstly Mr Leunig's research has been widely discredited elsewhere. He has cherry picked examples of bad, whilst wishing to ignore examples where journey times have improved. Secondly, he has got his facts badly wrong when it comes to Surbiton. The fastest timetabled journey takes 17 minutes, just as in 1939 - not 19 minutes he quotes in his report. I travel from Surbiton every day and many fast jouneys from Waterloo actually take 15 minutes in reality, which is fatsre than it has ever been before (due to faster accelerating and braking trains plus faster points). The report correctly states that the biggest problem at Surbiton is the daily overcrowding. This is not helped by the fact that some of the fast trains are only 8 car. Hope is on the horizon however as within the government's 1300 additional carriages for the rail network detailed 14 months ago, an extra 18*4 car have been assigned to South West Trains that should ensure come 2013, all fast trains through Surbiton will be increased to 12 car length, which should relieve this problem. The big concern is that although in the DfT's rolling stock plan, these extra trains are yet to be ordered. With falling employment in Central London and a corresponding fall in peak passenger demand, they might fall victim to government cutbacks. With regard to Waterloo, this year one of the old Eurostar platforms will be re-opened for domestic traffic, which can only help improve capacity there. Reinstating the remaining 4 platforms is having to wait for the bigger project that will see the extension of all Waterloo's platforms (except platform 1 & 2) to 12 car length and reworking the track arrangments in the Station approach.
I sincerely hope that the government does not consider cutting the extra rolling stock. This is effectively 'catch-up' for all of the years of under investment - passenger numbers have gone up exponentially from Surbiton in the last couple of decades, so even if they come down a bit now they will still be way higher than when the current capacity was designed.
ric
says...
4:05pm Tue 10 Mar 09
i live walking distance from chessington north but i'll get the train from surbiton. The reason i do this, is because the trains are more frequent and faster. plus if ones cancelled you have other options.
more people using their local stations would mean less people at surbiton. which should in theory make it better.
ps
how does 29 hours equal 4 bank holidays? last time i checked there were 24 hours in a day.
Tony from Surbiton says...
9:18am Tue 10 Mar 09