Roger Johnson, Vice Chairman of the Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association, spoke on BBC Radio Kent this morning about the new timetable from January 2015 published today.

Although the timetable shows some improvements suggested in SRTA’s comments on the draft, Roger said that it would still lead to massively overcrowded trains – especially due to additional London Bridge travellers having to travel on Cannon Street trains.

In addition Roger called for:

• free tube and bus travel between “London Terminus” stations – Charing Cross, Waterloo, London Bridge, Cannon Street and Victoria – for rail ticket holders, allowing people more journey options to avoid overcrowding, especially at times of disruption.
• improvements in passenger information – the rail industry is making £6.5 billion investment in London Bridge infrastructure as part of Thameslink …. and £0 in passenger information systems to help passengers cope with the disruption.
• a fare freeze during the disruption period – acknowledging that the service would be well below what passengers are normally paying for.

We have also published a quick initial analysis of the new timetable with our comments and a more detailed train by train analysis of the morning peak.