Rail users from Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill currently have 4 trains per hour (tph) to Victoria. They are not well spaced and two stop in the evening. From 2012 we were promised that 4tph would continue but would be at regular 15 minute intervals and continue for a full evening service. This was to compensate in part for the lost direct link between Victoria and London Bridge scheduled for 2012. The new 4tph service to Victoria was to be achieved by a new 2tph service between Victoria and Bellingham through Nunhead, added to the existing Dartford to Victoria serivce through Nunhead but extended to cover the evening as well.
It has now been discovered (not publicised) that in secret TfL secured Department of Transport agreement to sacrifice this new Bellingham-Victoria 2012 service to pay for the East London Line Extension from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction. This was a secret deal which was being kept from not just the public but other key official rail bodies like London Travel Watch and Passenger Focus.
From LTW press release:
"London TravelWatch has condemned transport officials for a secretive deal, which will deprive thousands of south London commuters of services into Victoria.
Letters from both the Department of Transport (DfT) and Transport for London (TfL) confirm that a 'backroom’ agreement was reached, and that certain services were sacrificed in the search for savings to fund the construction of the phase 2 of the East London Line extension (ELL2). The triumphant announcement of go-ahead for ELL2 failed to point out the resulting service cuts." Read more...