In May I posted here about the journey time between Bat & Ball and Maidstone East since the introduction of the new timetable, (62 minutes with 31 minutes waiting for a connection at Otford).  I wrote to both Southeastern and Thameslink about the matter.

Southeastern’s response was as follows: –

“Thank you for your webform dated 3 June about your recent journeys between Bat & Ball and Maidstone East.

I’m sorry that your commute has become longer due to the changes in the May timetable. Designing our timetable is often a compromise between which routes are served, which stations are called at, and how long the journey time is. We really do try to strike a balance between all of these factors, and I’m sorry that your experience hasn’t been positive.

We understand how important our train services are to passengers, many of whom build their work, home and family lives around their daily commute. Designing our train timetable is always a balance between providing enough capacity for passengers to travel to their destinations, and keeping journey times to a minimum wherever possible.

We’ve amended our timetable to allow the introduction of additional Thameslink services to destinations across the network, including new routes into Kent for the first time. This follows a public consultation on our proposed changes in 2017, and several years of collaboration with Govia Thameslink Railway and Network Rail. The amended timetable will provide many passengers with new journey opportunities, and improved connections onto services through the Central London “core” to destinations to the north, including London Luton Airport.

These timetable changes will affect most parts of our network, and mean more frequent services from many stations, earlier morning and later evening services on certain routes, and additional capacity on two busy Highspeed services in the morning peak. Some journeys will take less time, while others will take slightly longer. We’ve also amended the calling patterns on some services to include additional stops due to growing passenger demand.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us and I’m sorry for the difficulty you’ve experienced.”

Thameslink’s response was as follows: –

“Thank you for your email regarding the poor service you have experienced between Bat & Ball and Maidstone East. I am really sorry to hear of the disruption you experienced on your journeys recently and I appreciate the additional inconvenience it must cause to experience a delay to your service during this time.

Currently, we are in the process of introducing one of the biggest changes to the railway since the 1970s by providing more route choices, new trains and better connections. This fundamental rewrite of the timetable requires many changes to our operations in the run up to, and after the start date to get trains where they need to be. In addition, we need to ensure that drivers are fully trained on their new routes. This is a major logistical change and as a result, temporary changes have been put in place, including revisions to calling patterns and the cancellation of some services.

Unfortunately, the service you are experiencing presently has been affected, and I would like to recommend you to claim compensation for the delays that you have experienced of 15 minutes or more via the following website: www.thameslinkrailway.com/delayrepay. Please make sure you apply for this within 28 days of your delayed journey. I would also strongly recommend you check just before you travel and visit our website for regular updates here: www.railplan2020.com/timetables.

We are working hard to introduce the new timetable and once completed there will be an additional 400 new trains each day and space for 40,000 more passengers into London at peak times. The long-term impact of the changes will enable services to have greater resilience and reliability. As I am aware this is not the case for you at the moment, but please bear with us and a revised timetable will be implemented over the coming months.”

As mentioned above, I did not make the journey, I just pointed out to them the now ridiculous connection time there is at Otford! I also severely doubt that they would pay the Delay Repay that they suggest if my journey was longer but the trains were on time!!

The responses show how customer service offices issue standard responses that are frequently not appropriate, when they should forward the issue up the management line or to the relevant department to someone who can send a relevant and informed response.

It cannot help that Southeastern’s “Customer Service Department” is not actually part of Southeastern. The function has been contracted out to a firm in the Midlands – which shows how central “customer service” is to Southeastern’s operations.

The fact of the matter is that Southeastern and Thameslink have, probably without consultation with each other, implemented timetables without regard to connection between Sevenoaks and the County Town of Maidstone. It’s a pity that neither are prepared to let their timetablers tell us why.