As you know, I have been continuously pressing for additional rush hour services for the London to Swanley/Otford route, especially in the evening, and recently ran a petition to prove to Southeastern how popular this would be.
And, I am absolutely delighted to say that we have been successful.
Starting from 3 June 2024 there will now be two additional trains leaving 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.
These new services will replicate the existing half-hourly morning rush-hour service into London which has been in operation since December.
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 say 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. Once I have more specific information I will be sure to share then with you.
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.
