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CAMPAIGNS
WSRUA is constantly striving to improve our rail services. We're not just here to complain on behalf of passengers. Our campaigns are at the forefront of this work by focusing our efforts on important issues where we consider we will be able to make a difference. Campaigns include:
Horsham Station Improvements
Letter from West Sussex Rail Users Association to the West Sussex County Times
Sirs,
Your readers should be aware that the plans for road “improvements” at the front of Horsham Railway station won’t be improving accessibility for rail users. Your article ”Station Plan ‘overdue’” gave brief details of the next grandiose scheme of Horsham District Council and West Sussex CC to waste their taxpayers’ money. The re-designed approach won’t meet rail users’ needs and will make life very much more difficult for many rail users. As we pointed out in our response to the “consultation” there are generally about 40 cars meeting passengers arriving on each evening peak time train but the new design provides only 8 spaces. We predict this will lead to chaos with roads around the station being blocked by waiting cars. Readers who would like to know more will find further details and our response to the plans at www.wsrua.org.uk.
Monica Edmonds – Chair, West Sussex Rail Users Association.
Sussex Route Utilisation Strategy
Click here to download the formal response made by WSRUA to the Sussex Route Utilisation Strategy consultation document from Network Rail (PDF format, Adobe Reader required).
Key points include:
- There is "suppressed demand" for Arun Valley rail services - limited by lack of integrated public transport, a woeful lack of parking at rail heads (eg Horsham and Pulborough), long journey times for passengers joining and leaving between Horsham and Bognor Regis.
- WSRUA has asked Network Rail to ensure all peak trains are 12 coaches long, to retain direct trains to London Bridge, provide for later trains from London and Chichester along the Arun Valley, for a better Sunday service and more effective use of the Dorking line.
- We considered that the Network Rail proposal only to renew some of the semaphore signalling south of Horsham is mistaken and short-sighted. The whole line should have replacement up-to- date signalling installed to bring it up to modern standards; this would improve journey times and cut costs.
Performance
Southern's on-time train performance has been improving for the last 2 years. In the last year 88% of trains arrived on-time (which is defined as less than 5 mins late) up from 77% two years ago. A great improvement but this is only back to what it was 10 years ago, at the time of privatisation. Compared to other SE TOCs, Southern is only average at 6th out of 10 rail companies. Congratulations to Southern but the improvement must be continued. This improvement is due to Southern managers focusing on performance, new Electrostar trains and a new Southern/Network Rail control centre at East Croydon.
Source: Office Of Rail Regulation National Rail Trends 2005-2006 Q4 - 12m to Mar 2006
Delay Refunds
Other TOCs in the SE (One and First Capital Connect) offer a fare refund if passengers are delayed by more than 30 minutes. This refund policy is contained in each company's passenger charter. Southern only compensates passengers if they are delayed by more than one hour.
Because of the nature of SE train services a one hour delay rarely happens. If a train is cancelled, there is usually another one 20 or 30 minutes later. Since performance on Southern has improved, we consider that Southern should reward its passengers by changing its refund scheme and reducing the delay to 30mins, in line with other TOCs.
Southern's
Passengers' Charter