Bellenden Residents' Group (BRG)

South London Press 4th December 2009 by Jenny Clover  photo and read article

Transport campaigners dressed in Edwardian garb celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first London electrified train line this week. The Save the South London Line campaigners met at Denmark Hill station Tuesday morning for a champagne breakfast. It was 1st Decemeber 1909 that the first electric trains carrying passengers ran on the line ...

Message from the Save the South London Line Campaign*:
 
At a meeting on 24th November 2009 with stakeholder groups in South London, TfL recognised one of the main objectives of campaigners, the need to keep radial services to Central London for current South London Line stations. TfL has proposed a variety of short-listed options for keeping service to Victoria, including diverting the East London Line from Clapham Junction, introducing a Victoria-Bellingham service and making current Victoria-Dartford services run all day, guaranteeing for Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye all day trains to Victoria. This is in contrast to TfL's earlier assertions that SLL passengers should take ELLX to Clapham Junction and change for Victoria there.

 Mayor's Question Time – 18 November 2009 Transcript: Mayor's Oral Update

Boris Johnson (Mayor of London): … Of course the Members who came on the delegation [regarding the South London Line] to see Sadiq Khan [Minister of State for Transport] will know exactly what happened. I think it was, on the whole, a successful mission. The Government certainly heard our points and it heard the points that we were able to relay to it about the concerns of rail travel users in south London, and it is agreed that the Department of Transport (DfT) will give serious consideration to finding alternatives following the withdrawal of the South London Line mandated by it. In this whole story and in this conversation that has begun about rail travel in south London I think there is a danger that we will miss the big good news point - and I think I am entitled to stress the good news as the Mayor - that the extension of the East London Line, connecting it up with the North London Line, will hugely increase capacity for rail users in south London… 

Does the Mayor then just take the TfL line that the new East London Line is more important for South London than the direct links into central London? Read full transcript here.

South London Press     Thursday, 26 November 2009  read article

A GOVERNMENT proposal to rescue a threatened train service has been sent to City Hall. Ss we reported, a meeting between transport minister Sadiq Khan and London Mayor Boris Johnson this month has given hope to those fighting to save the South London Line.