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Success for CCARA Chair and local Cllr Chloe-Jane Ross!
After 18 months of campaigning Southeastern have agreed to restore the Beckenham Junction to Blackfriars service that was cancelled during the pandemic.
Worried that Southeastern would quietly drop the Blackfriars service which it cancelled during the pandemic, Chloe-Jane started the campaign to save it some 18 months ago. She set up an on-line petition calling for the restoration of this service, it grew to over two thousand signatures and highlighted the overwhelming support for the restoration of this service. She has been meeting with Southeastern regularly to make the case for the service on behalf of local people.
After months of lobbying Southeastern, other Councillors, the local MP, London Assembly members and anyone that would listen, it’s brilliant to report that the new timetable from 11 Dec 2022 includes 5 trains in the morning from Beckenham Junction to Blackfriars and 2 back in the evening.
Chloe-Jane said: “Beckenham is an excellent transport hub, and this is one of the reasons that people choose to set up home here. I’m delighted to have been able to make a strong case to Southeastern (with a 2000+ petition, thank you) and they’ve listened to us. The return of this service will make a huge difference to many commuters.”
“I’ve had regular meetings with Southeastern and was presented with different statistics being used to assess use of the service. But what these stats didn’t show was the different choices commuters were making in the absence of the Blackfriars service. Southeastern’s data did not show the true demand for the service, and in the end the Head of Operations agreed with me on this.”
“This has been a brilliant community campaign, thank you to everyone that supported it”.