Bellenden Residents' Group (BRG)

There are some important changes coming from 20 May in our local services to Victoria and Blackfriars. The new pocket timetables are now available in the stations. These changes are the consequence of Blackfriars station reopening after a long closure for redevelopment. That closure resulted in our Blackfriars services being diverted to Victoria after 8pm during the week and on Saturdays and Sundays.

 
CURRENT BLACKFRIARS / ST PANCRAS SERVICES
These are the services run currently by Southeastern rail, and they will continue:
* From Monday to Friday trains from Sevenoaks to Nunhead, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill, Elephant & Castle & Blackfriars run to St. Pancras and beyond. The last train from Peckham Rye to St Pancras will continue to be 8.50pm and the last train from St Pancras to our stations will be 9pm as it is now. There are no current services to Blackfriars / St Pancras on Saturdays or Sundays.
 
NEW SERVICES FOR BLACKFRIARS
From 20 May there will be additional new services, which are a welcome improvement. We understand that they will be as follows:
* After the current service times on Monday to Friday there will be an additional service in the half hourly slot, from 9.20pm to 11.20pm, but it will terminate at Blackfriars. So after around 9pm you will need to change there to go on beyond to St Pancras, or in coming from St Pancras.
* On Saturdays and Sundays there will be a half hourly service to and from Blackfriars from about 6-7am until around 11pm. At all these times, you will need to change there to go on beyond to St Pancras, or in coming from St Pancras.
* Connections at Blackfriars for trains to and from St Pancras on all days will be 4 mins going to St Pancras, and 7 mins coming back. These look as if they will be feasible for changing trains (adjacent platform for the 4 min change, and stairs or lift for the 7 min change).
 
BLACKFRIARS/ST PANCRAS FUTURE SERVICES
We are campaigning for a 7 day a week full day and evening service to Blackfriars/St Pancras and beyond to be included in the new Thameslink franchise agreement which is now being developed by the Department for Transport.
 
VICTORIA SERVICES
The loss of these Southeastern rail services to Victoria will expose very clearly the serious deterioration in our Victoria services when we lose the South London Line's two trains an hour to Victoria from London Bridge on 9 December when the East London Line starts running. At that time, the only services to Victoria that will remain will be the two trains an hour coming from Dartford to Victoria through Nunhead, Peckham Rye & Denmark Hill - but they don't run in the evenings or on Sundays.
It will mean that, from 9 December, at Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill we will have just two trains an hour to Victoria (instead of four during the weekday), and none at all in the evenings and on Sundays. We continue to campaign for those gaps, from December 2012, to be filled temporarily with extensions of other services, and for the new franchise in 2014 to provide a full 7 days a week day and evening service. You can see further information on the campaign here: http://www.bellenden.net/victoria
(PS The Victoria services from Nunhead will be unchanged.)
If you have any queries or suggestions please let us know.