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Trains into London now slower than in 1987 - or is just a ruse?
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent12.08.08
Rail passengers face slower train journeys into London than 21 years ago.
Popular services to the capital are slower than in 1987 despite rail network and rolling stock improvements.
Critics say rail firms are "padding out" timetables by adding a few minutes to journeys between key stations to ensure trains arrive on time.
Reading to Paddington, a route which has been blighted by overcrowding, takes 31 minutes, compared with 28 in the late Eighties.
Southend to Fenchurch Street is five minutes slower at 54, as is Canterbury to Victoria at 86 rather than 81.
Not all routes were slower, however, with the journey time from St Albans to St Pancras International falling from 22 to 21 minutes and the Peterborough to King's Cross route being cut from 58 to 53 minutes, according to Thomas Cook European Timetables.
Liberal Democrat transpor t spokesman Norman Baker accused train firms of stretching journey times to escape fines for being late.
He said: "It's unacceptable with record levels of investment in the railwaysand much better rolling stock that journey times are longer.
"It's clear that part of this at least is a deliberate policy to lengthen journeys in order to meet punctuality targets and to avoid fines. There is far too much slack in the timetable."
Mr Baker, MP for Lewes, has written to transport minister Tom Harris urging tighter timetables.
Passenger group London TravelWatch backed his criticism of rail firms. Spokesman Jo deBank said: "We have no doubt that most of these increases (in time) are as a result of train companies seeking to improve performance statistics and therefore avoid fines." But the Association of Train Operating Companies insisted that longer journeys were due to more services being run and not a ruse to minimise fines.
Rail firm Southern said journey times and frequencies were part of contracts with Network Rail and approved by the Department for Transport. A DoT spokeswoman said: "Passengers demand both a reliable railway and competitive journey times and it is for Network Rail and the train operator to make this trade-off."
'Journeys worse and still cost more'
COMMUTERS at Victoria agreed with MP Norman Baker that it is unacceptable that journey times have not improved in 20 years.
Rebecca Carne, 28, a PA, has been commuting for eight years from Orpington. She said: "Commuting into London has definitely got worse. I have to get an earlier train to be sure I make it to work on time. Despite that, it still goes up in cost."
Ed Potter, a civil servant, 37, commutes from Margate to London.
He said: "The connections aren't very good. I get a seat but I'm paying about £300 a month. My main gripe is if this is such an expensive service it shouldn't just be adequate, it should be a lot better."
Mike Clinton, 59, a designer, has been commuting from Crawley to London for a year and a half. He said: "I think my commute has improved because of the Gatwick Express. It's the same number of trains but it's a more comfortable service. It's expensive but because of that I'm happy to pay."
Bryan Lopez, 48, a quantity surveyor, has been commuting from Billingshurst, West Sussex, for five years. He said: "They cut one of the trains from our service. It didn't affect me but a lot of people had to change to my train. The trains are more crowded now but at least they are air-conditioned, so it has become okay."
Hazel Kettle, a civil servant, commutes from Romford. She said: "I've been commuting for 20 years. I don't think it's got better, it's just the same as it's always been.
"The trains are usually on time, but get delayed occasionally because a train's broken down or something. Those things don't happen that often thankfully."
Reader views (9)
One would hope the trip from St Albans to St Pancras International is shorter as they moved the station closer to St Albans!
- Anon, London
"Reading to Paddington, a route which has been blighted by overcrowding, takes 31 minutes, compared with 28 in the late Eighties."
And, if I remember correctly, the fastest journey time was around 21 minutes.
- Richard Hancock, Bracknell, UK
I think that 'Padding Out' is C2C's speciality. It now takes between 38 - 40 minutes on average to go from Grays to Fenchurch St. 3 years ago it was between 35 - 38 minutes. Its Pathetic.
- Matthew, Grays, UK
I commute from Basildon into London Fenchurch Street using c2c, (the name is not supposed to have a meaning but chaos2commuters seems the most accurate). c2c are very quick to boast that they are one of the most reliable rail services in the country, but how have they managed this miracle? The answer is fewer trains and longer journey times, to say they have manipulated the services to suit their purpose would be one of the biggest understatements possible. From Basildon during the morning 'peak' services there are 4 trains during any 60 minute period (the same as non peak)and over the past years journey time have grown by up to 7 minutes.
If you have the temerity to complain c2c they tell you to change at Laindon (the next stop London bound, where soms services begin) on any other means of transport fares would be cheaper if you had to change - but not here your inconvenience is not c2c's problem.
The biggest and saddest joke here - c2c are allowed to take money from commuters and then sit back and wonder why they have to endure passengers who expect to receive a proper service in return for their payments of a few thousand pounds each!
- C, Basildon
Get a motorbike!
- Brenden, Wimbledon
Having recently returned from abroad I naively thought I would catch a train from Kings Cross to Cambridge, read the paper and enjoy a coffee. My first shock was when the train arrived, it only appeared to be half a train! (I’m sure they used to be made up of 10 carriages? The following scrum to get a seat would have impressed the “ All Blacks” Needless to say it was overcrowded and to cap it all it arrived late.
Trying to read a paper, stood up with a coffee and a wedged between a bicycle and suite cases made me realise what a shambles we have to put up with. It was late !!
- David, Cambridge
As well as slower trains, there are also fewer trains. First Great Western used to run a train every 20 mins from my local station (Hanwell) to Paddington, but now only runs a train every 30 mins.
The private companies that run our train services are taking the record public investment and turning it into profits at our expense. This is an issue that the government has a duty to tackle.
- Liz, London
What do you expect? Everyone under the sun is living here now. We can't cope!
- Steve, London
What about Waterloo to Hounslow?
The journey time increased by 33% when the government temporarily took over south-west trains. Not surprisingly trains were less likely to be late after this change and reliability "improved"!
The fast trains to Brentford (a condition of Glaxo rebuilding this trains station) were also axed.
- Mark, Hammersmith
