Our Annual General Meeting this year on Wednesday 14 October at 8pm will be an important event. Main speakers are:

• Geoff Hobbs, Head of Transport Planning for TFL Rail, presenting TfL’s ideas for southeastern rail services – the “Overground” quality of service that wins high commuter ratings and extension of Oyster to Dunton Green and Sevenoaks. Decisions in early 2016 will determine how franchise(s) from 2018 will be organised, and how much of this we get.
• Richard Dean (Train Services Director) and Barbara Thomas (Passenger Services Director) speaking for Southeastern on their plans for the future. The London Bridge timetable, the price of tickets, plans for smartcard ticketing, quality of passenger information, the state of the stations and other concerns are on our agenda for the questions to them.
• Roger Perkins (Media Relations Manager, Thameslink) will cover future developments on the line to Otford, Swanley, Bromley,  Blackfriars and beyond; reliability of Thameslink service and missed connections at Sevenoaks are questions for him
• Mike Smith (Route Enhancement Manager, Network Rail) will talk about the London Bridge project and after. We will ask about the London Bridge rebuilding, and about improving line capacity and reliability
• Matthew Arnold (Go-Coach) on new services and integrating bus with rail

These are the players who have an impact on commuters’ everyday journeys, on students travelling to school or college, and on how Sevenoaks area rail services will change after 2018 when the London Bridge rebuild is finished. The old approach of Department for Transport and Kent County Council that ‘nothing can be done’ to increase capacity on our line is being challenged by the expanding population in West Kent, and by new approaches in London to improve and expand the network. We want to be sure that the Sevenoaks area doesn’t miss out on better services from the investment -which we will certainly pay for.

The meeting will be held at Christ Church Hall, corner of London Road and Kippington Road, TN13 2JG. The full agenda, is at http://srta.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2015-AGM-Agenda-v0.1.pdf

These potential developments affect all the area we represent: Sevenoaks, Dunton Green, Eynsford, Shoreham, Otford, Bat & Ball and Kemsing, as well as Borough Green.
Please come and ask questions about what you need from the railway services in the next few years – all welcome!