SRTA member Gordon Pratt has been researching the case for more fast trains stopping at Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye.
Denmark Hill is an important destination for consultants, medical staff and patients from Kent going to two major hospitals … King’s and the Maudsley). However at the times when usage would be highest fast trains do not stop there.
The key London interchange of Peckham Rye (between Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink and London Overground) is not even on the timetable.
To get an indication of volume at these stations, and to compare with Bromley South the latest annual usage figures have been:
Denmark Hill 3.9 million (Many are Destination for the hospitals)
Peckham Rye 3.7 million (1.5 million interchange)
Bromley South 6.0 million (0.7 million interchange)
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) acknowledge that Peckham Rye is an important interchange of standing equivalent to Bromley South. Perhaps this acknowledgement helped them towards winning their franchise?
Another TOC who have recently won their new 15 year franchise is c2c. They have not been afraid to call at stations closer to London serving passenger demand from further out in Essex such as West Ham (4 million) and Limehouse (3.2 million). They are fully aware of links to connecting services and the key destinations served and have noted these on the route diagram. Furthermore they have been pro-active for their bid and the December 2015 timetable. Perhaps this helped them win their franchise too?
Another SRTA member is a doctor who works at King’s College Hospital next to Denmark Hill station. He knows several other Kent doctors that use the Darenth Valley line to Denmark Hill. He also says that Denmark Hill seems to be a station with expanding passenger numbers, and he lives in hope that some of the faster trains Maidstone via Otford will call at Denmark Hill.
Having to use Peckham Rye Gordon can verify the number of empty (and therefore non-revenue generating) seats being carried by Southeastern through this station, much to the frustration of commuters to Kent. The very low line speed here of course means that passengers who would use the Southeastern service (if it stopped) have a very good look as the train crawls tantalisingly through the station!
Southeastern could easily ensure that fast trains actually stop at Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill instead of crawling through – the stopping time could surely be accommodated within the timetable. By meeting the passenger demand and positively promoting the connections and destination on their route diagram they would increase their income without extra costs. That would be a much more “go-ahead” service from the Go-Ahead group.
Just a comment on Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill stops: most mainline trains through Otford tend to use the Beckenham rather than the Catford route so the extra stops would apply to only a few trains each day unless the normal routing was changed – personally I should not be in favour of that as Beckenham is a faster route.
That, of course, is accepted but where existing trains are routed through Catford I believe that it would make sense for them to stop at Peckham Rye/ Denmark Hill. Although things should improve with the new Thameslink trains, at the moment the current Thameslink stock are a significant standing squeeze and being able to use one of the empty seats on the ‘fast’ service that crawls through Peckham Rye on its way towards Bromley South just before the FCC sardine service is still just a dream.