Do you regularly travel to north London through Blackfriars by train? The government (Department for Transport) is currently consulting on proposals to combine Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchises.
The proposals mean our “Wimbledon Loop” service of four-trains-an-hour through from South London (Tulse Hill, Tooting, Streatham and beyond) to Thameslink, Farringdon and London St Pancras will terminate at Blackfriars. So anyone wanting to travel further north will have to change trains at Blackfriars. The proposed termination of the Wimbledon Loop at Blackfriars is caused by a massive upgrade to other parts of the Thameslink service for trains coming up from Brighton and Kent via London Bridge eg Blackfriars Station has been remodelled and the viaduct across Borough Market extended.
There is a public consultation until Thursday 23rd August 2012 and it’s important that Thameslink rail travellers comment on the proposed service changes.
To comment, email thameslink@dft.gsi.gov.uk To see the proposals there is an 84 page consultation document available on http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/dft-2012-23/ Page 30 asks a key question – what is the most satisfactory way to manage the Blackfriars interchange?
For further information on the last-minute protest campaign to persuade government ministers to over-rule the plan campaign to terminate trains at Blackfriars station please email Cllr Jane Pickard [jpickard@lambeth.gov.uk]. Terminating our trains at Blackfriars is not necessary and is unfair to local people!
Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet in north London, is the Minister of State for Transport with responsibility for London – email: theresa@theresavilliers.co.uk