Copers Cope Area Residents’ Association has started an online petition to oppose the reduction of Thameslink services through Beckenham Junction – please sign at http://coperscope.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/beckenham-junction-to-lose-st-pancras-and-beyond-rail-service/
The impact of a reprieve for Wimbledon’s Loop Rail services will mean reduced services on the Beckenham Junction line with trains now going to St Pancras being curtailed at Blackfriars.
As part of the Thameslink and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise consultation in Summer 2012, those in South West London successfully lobbied the rail minister (then Simon Burns) to ensure the Wimbledon Loop services were maintained through the central London core as part of the new Thameslink line during peak hours. This results in other peak services, namely the Southeastern services from Kent having to curtail at Blackfriars.
The TSGN franchise was recently announced and confirms that the services including those through Beckenham Junction are not to be run throughout the whole term of the franchise. This is because in 2018 the new South Eastern franchise will come into effect at which point the services in question will transfer over to that franchise for completeness.
Bromley currently benefits from the Thameslink ‘stopper’ service that originates in Sevenoaks or Orpington and serves all stations on the Victoria line including Bromley South. There is much uncertainty about what happens to this current “all stations” stopping service. It appears that, if there are four trains an hour on the Wimbledon Loop, for capacity reasons, this means the Catford Loop services from Sevenoaks will have to be curtailed at Blackfriars or much reduced, though they may be re-instated from 2018 when they transfer to South Eastern.
The other concern is for the limited three AM peak services (departing Bromley South at 06:56, 07:40, 08:06) which is fast from Bromley South to Elephant & Castle, Blackfriars, City Thameslink, Farringdon and St Pancras. One evening peak service departs St Pancras at 17:36.