I am writing February’s newsletter having just received some brilliant news.
Readers will know that the Maidstone East fast line through Otford and Swanley to London Bridge was a key election pledge of mine in 2019, and I was delighted when we delivered on it over a year ago. This was in no small part due to us working together and showing the great demand for the service.
It was clear immediately that this service was a great success, and after my petition was signed by more than a thousand people, we were able to obtain an additional morning service. That meant there was a half-hourly rush hour service.
However, this still left us with an hourly evening rush hour service, which was leading to overcrowded trains. I have been in touch with Southeastern on many occasions concerning the need for a returning half-hourly rush hour service in the evenings and earlier this year launched a petition to once again show the support of local people.
Once again, hundreds of you got involved and I have just heard from Southeastern that we have been successful.
From 3 June 2024 there will now be a half-hourly evening rush hour service from London to Swanley and Otford. Two additional trains will leave Charing Cross at 1659, 1759 – stopping at Waterloo East and London Bridge, before travelling fast to Swanley and then Otford – which will give a half-hourly service from Charing Cross from 1629 to 1829.
My immense thanks to Southeastern for listening to us, and to all of you who have either used the service or have supported my campaigns over the last couple of years. It really has made a difference.
As ever, I do not intend to rest upon my laurels, and I want to ensure that going forward there will be more capacity on the rush hour trains. It is great the line is so popular, but occasions of overcrowding at peak times needs to be dealt with.
On a separate note, I am also very happy to report there will be additional trains to London from Sevenoaks in the morning rush hour, more frequent trains on Saturdays, with more carriages Saturday afternoons and during the daytime on Sundays. As and when I have the specific times, I will be sharing them on my Facebook.
Whether for work or pleasure, our train services are immensely important to thousands of households in my constituency, and these improvements are to be welcomed and I will always seek more where possible.
Laura Trott
MP for Sevenoaks and Swanley
To see Laura's newsletter in full click here
