In the 3 months since our last Newsletter, there has been a some information on fare increases in January; some timetable changes in October to cover the leaf fall season; an apparent threat to some of our station ticket offices; some misinformation on reduced price tickets over the Olympic period next year and the change to the Customer Information System (CIS) at Littlehaven. As yet, there has been no information on timetable changes from 11 December. We now have a Twitter address and encourage all WSRUA twitter fans to tweet your journey using twitter.com/wsrua.

Fares

It has been confirmed that most fares will rise by around 8% at the beginning of January. This is the July RPI of 5% plus 3% as set out in the Government’s expenditure plans in October 2010. This huge increase is allegedly to fund rail improvements but a more realistic explanation is that it will reduce subsidies being paid to the railway industry as part of the overall cuts in public expenditure. The 2012 increase is the first of three planned increases way in excess of inflation with similar or even larger increases on the stocks for 2013 and 2014. Your Association was invited to join a demonstration against the increases at Brighton in July and this was organised by the RMT and the so-called Campaign for Better Transport. We were given less than a day’s notice of the demonstration - I received an e-mail at 6pm and the demo was at 9am the following day. Because of this short notice coupled with its overtly political nature, I took the decision unilaterally that we could not attend. Nonetheless we are committed to fairer fares and we continue to challenge the rationale for fare increases whenever possible and to discuss special offers in our area with Southern.

Leaf fall season

From 3 October until 9 December there will be changes to timings of three services from Horsham to Victoria via Dorking. The 05:49 and 06:20 Horsham to London Victoria services will be 3 minutes earlier from Horsham, Warnham, Ockley and Holmwood, 2 minutes earlier from Dorking, Boxhill & Westhumble, Leatherhead and Ashtead, and 1 minute earlier from Epsom, Ewell East and Cheam. Times from Sutton remain the same. The 06:55 Horsham to London Victoria service will be 3 minutes earlier at Horsham, Warnham, Ockley and Holmwood, 2 minutes earlier from Dorking, Leatherhead and Ashtead, and 1 minute earlier from Epsom and Cheam. Times from Sutton remain the same.

CIS

The high-level CIS at Littlehaven has been replaced by an eye-level information point. The train departures previously shown on the dot matrix screens above passengers heads are now on a smallish screen within the information point and can be difficult to see when there is a throng of passengers around it. Southern replaced the old CIS without consulting us and they have apologised for this, had they done so we would have suggested that the new system is not ideal for Littlehaven where the platform is crowded at peak times. But the change has been made and we would like to hear from Littlehaven users whether they consider it to be an improvement.

The McNulty Report Sir Roy McNulty was asked by the previous Government and the Office of Rail Regulation to conduct an independent study into rail value for money. His 320 page report was published in May and contained a number of recommendations which are being considered by the Government. In July, the Press picked up one of these recommendations which suggests that ticket offices should be closed in 675 smaller stations where ticket sales and footfall are low. Apparently this could include station like Pulborough, Billingshurst and Christ’s Hospital on the Arun Valley Line and others such as Bosham on the Coastway. But, we do not consider than any of these ticket offices and their staff are under immediate threat as Southern’s franchise commitments included keeping open facilities at these stations. The McNulty report has many more recommendations which if implemented could reduce the total costs of the industry by 30%. Needless to say, many of these would be difficult and painful to implement but in the current financial climate, the Government may have little option. We will keep a close eye on developments here that might affect your services.

Resignalling

For over a year, Network Rail have had plans to increase the number of signals between Horsham and Billingshurst to reduce the delays in each direction to our trains that split or join at Horsham. There have been some recent signs that there be a wholesale resignalling of the line bringing it out of the 19th century (Billingshurst signal box is the oldest working box in Great Britain) into the 21st century. This would enable more trains to run over the line and help alleviate the sort of problems experienced last week with the Balcombe Tunnel closure. We are trying to get more on this from Network Rail.

New Trains

Not a rumour but fact! It is best explained in this Press Release from Southern a few days ago:

Southern has today launched a competition to provide 130 new carriages to help meet capacity demand on its network. The company has issued a PQQ (Pre-Qualification Questionnaire) to potential suppliers, with the trains due for delivery no later than December 2013. The extra carriages are needed to enable Southern to deliver its growth targets and meet the capacity increases it is scheduled to deliver in its December 2013 timetable. The High Level Output Statement had assumed the 23 Class 377 units on sub-lease to First Capital Connect would have been returned in time to meet these commitments, but this is not now likely to happen in time.

Chris Burchell, Managing Director of Southern, said: "Without the return of our sub-leased vehicles we need to explore other options to provide the necessary capacity to meet our passengers' needs. Critical to the success of this project will be the ability of suppliers to demonstrate they can deliver the trains on time while still offering affordability and value for money."

We wish Southern success with this and we will keep you in touch with developments. Perhaps this will be a lifeline for the Bombardier works at Derby.

Olympics and Cheap tickets

And now for a rumour that I can dispel! One of our members sent me a copy of a recent letter in the Daily Mail. It was from a travel agent who claimed that he had been told by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) that all reduced fares would be withdrawn for a period of 3 months next summer when the Olympics are taking place. I asked ATOC whether this was true and their response was:

“Almost a million cheap Advance fares are now bought every week and there are no plans to withdraw these publically available and increasingly popular fares. Only around 1 in every 2000 passengers travel on special fares made available to tour operators that are sold as part of package holidays. Some of these won’t be available for a few months next summer but the overwhelming majority of people will be unaffected. Train companies have put in place a range of special fares for passengers attending London 2012 events. These value for money fares have special flexible conditions and can already be purchased through a dedicated website.”

So there is no truth in the rumour except for tickets bought as part of a package holiday. ATOC have asked the Daily Mail to publish a correction but they have had no response.

Horsham

The refurbishment work has started and we will cover this in more detail in our next Newsletter. In the meantime, we can say that had a constructive meeting with local Southern management and we encourage members to give us feedback on the redevelopment as it progresses, and especially on the art work.

And finally

The Queen’s Birthday Honours list announced the award of the MBE to Nigel Searle of Southern for Services to the Railway Industry. We were so pleased to hear of this. Nigel has been of great help to the Association, attending many of our AGMs usually to explain that the changes we want are impossible to deliver! Apart from his work for Southern, Nigel can often be found playing his trombone in various Sussex bands and he has also involved with the Arundel Festival. We send him our congratulations and best wishes for the future.

Trevor Tupper
Membership Secretary