Shocking overcrowding at London Bridge station has sparked major concern from commuters petitioning for timetable changes and a promise of a review by rail bosses.
The ‘dangerous’ crowds witnessed at rush-hour last Wednesday week, January 25, has caused widespread outrage, with many passengers saying they were ‘not able to breathe’.
A petition was started shortly after, which called on Southeastern to reinstate the old timetable and ‘improve the service.’
On December 11, Southeastern was one of the two London networks to recast their entire timetables – which meant most trains on the main routes through southeast London were changed.
The petition reads: “Since Southeastern’s timetable change in December across Southern’s service there have been daily delays and overcrowding to unsafe levels which Southeastern hasn’t tried to resolve or manage at all.
“We’ve just left a global pandemic involving socially distancing and I witnessed on this overcrowded train people standing closer than you’d expect most couples to stand in public only halfway down the route.
“How is this acceptable?
“It’s time they take accountability and improve this service. Listen to your staff striking. Make the routes safer for those travelling and prevent overcrowding.”
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On the London Bridge incident, a spokesperson for Southeastern said the closures, cancellations and delays were down to “an individual on the line at Hither Green.”
“The individual was removed from tracks, with power restored to all lines by Network Rail and normal services resumed at 17:39,” they said.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused to our customers as a result of this incident.”
According to their website, Southeastern based the latest timetable alterations – that were made in December on changes to customer behaviour post-covid.
Their website reads: “We know these changes will not please everyone, and that some are losing out. In order to improve the railway’s punctuality, reliability and affordability we had to make some tough decisions, and we are sorry that for some of our customers, it will mean fewer trains per hour or changing at London Bridge for a frequent connecting service.”
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Cllr Victor Chamberlain, Leader of Southwark Liberal Democrats wrote to Southeastern Railway, Network Rail and Southwark Council demanding investigations following the “completely unacceptable” incident.
“To hear reports of commuters being ‘kettled’ and having panic attacks is alarming and raises serious questions about the station’s protocols in relation to service disruption,” he said.
“Someone could have been seriously injured.
“I’ve never seen the crowding like it – clearly something went seriously wrong,” he added.
The response he got from Network Rail said they were taking a ‘lessons-learned review’, which is taking place this week.
Ellie Burrows, Regional Managing Director, Southern, Network Rail said: “I have heard from passengers about how upset they were and their concern that our station communications should have been better. Everyone should feel safe and comfortable when using our stations and we take seriously reports that have not met this standard. I’m sorry that on this occasion people have not felt that way.
“At the outset, I can explain that the problems were caused by a trespasser on the line at Hither Green, which was reported at about 16:40. For safety reasons, we must switch off the power in situations like this which regrettably caused line closures, cancellations and delays in and out of London. Although we got trains moving again quickly, from 17:00, even a short postponement of services during the evening peak is enough to have a significant knock-on impact on the evening’s services.
“As a result, we began to see intense overcrowding at London Bridge station. In line with our standard safety procedures, we activated our crowd control measures at 17:30, eventually listing them at 18:45.
“Keeping passengers safe at our stations is an absolute priority for us, and the scenes at the station were clearly alarming for many and fell far short of our normal standards for customer experience. With that in mind, we are urgently undertaking a lessons-learned review, with the station management team holding an initial debrief yesterday, and a fuller review to take place next week.
“The lessons from Wednesday’s events will form part of our ongoing work to improve our station management processes, particularly during times of disruption.
“I will be in touch again when this work is completed to confirm what changes we will be making to our procedures to keep everyone who uses our stations safe.”
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