SouthEastern Trains really want to simplify your journeys.
They think your life would be much simpler if you had more interchange opportunities when going on your daily commute to Charing Cross or Victoria. Maybe you’d like to change at Lewisham? I’m pretty sure your ticket price will remain the same.
If you think this is total bollocks, and SouthEastern ought to be ashamed of themselves, then you have some options.
You can sign this petition, just like 14,500 other people have done.
Please email BetterSouthEastern@dft.gsi.gov.uk, you can use the text below as a template – please amend it to reflect your experiences:
Dear Sir/Madam,
This following is a formal response to the South Eastern Rail Franchise Consultation document published in March 2017.
I’m responding as an individual.
My personal details:
First Name, Surname
First Half of Postcode (eg SE3)
My nearest station is Blackheath
I normally travel to Victoria and Charing Cross from Blackheath Station.
I usually travel some time between 6am-9am and 5pm-8pm every weekday.
The reason I travel is to get to work, but also during leisure time.
My accessibility needs are…
I am responding specifically to Question 17 in the consultation. I strongly oppose the idea of SouthEastern stopping offering routes to Victoria and Charing Cross. I do not want to make multiple changes on a line that previously offered a direct route. I do not believe that SouthEastern will offer significant improvements in reliability or regularity in service, and suspect they are just using this as a way to lessen the burden of their license, whilst passengers will still have to pay the same prices to get into London.
Finally, there’s public consultation at 10am on Saturday 1st April at Glass Mill Leisure Centre map (the one next to Lewisham Station. That’s today/tomorrow, depending on when you’re reading this! Please attend if you can.
Licensed under a 
The Blackheath Bugle 
It’s worse than that. If you want to get to a different London terminus you’ll likely have to get the tube or a bus, So you’ll pay a train fare AND a tube/bus fare because SE trains and TfL services aren’t integrated.
They are assuming it is quick and easy to change trains at Lewisham and London Bridge – but it isn’t. At Lewisham you have to negotiate 2 flights of stairs and at London Bridge the same (though there are escalators and lifts too). This take several minutes and if your train is late in, or the changeover time is tight, you have to really rush – not easy for anybody during crowded times and not easy for the less abled at any time. Add to this, at London Bridge, they have been known to switch trains to different platforms at late notice, resulting in a mad dash to get to the right platform from the wrong one.
The consultation was uninspiring and there seemed to be a lot of confusion down to the fact that Southeastern admitted the document had been badly worded and possibly misleading, they will be updating it next week. I came away unsure of my facts but I am sure how bloody awful it will be for all of us commuters.
This is a crazy idea. We should move forward and be progressive. Adding interchanges to a journey is a poor excuse just showing that they are not coping well with providing a good service on existing lines.
Agreed
No leave our train service alone… many people use Blackheath station to get to Kings hospital and travel to Victoria to get to Gatwick .. god its hard enough getting anywhere these days without this rubbish. many people work in the west end and they need to get to Charing X for gods sake..
Canon Street closes at 8 O’Clock. How are poeple expected to get home if they live on one of the affected lines. No point in interchanges if there are no trains after 8.
I asked about this at Blackheath Train station. The ticket office had some leaflets but were only handing them out to people who asked for them. I looked but could not see any notice about the consultation process.
I did attend. What a waste of time that was.
April 5th: I just heard about this, by chance, via a friend. Nothing on the Blackheath Society’s website and as usual our local councillors haven’t seen fit to keep us informed. So thanks, Bugle, for the details.
I think this is disgraceful, especially after 2 years of disruption to supposedly improve the train services. It’s interesting that we ve been bombarded with leaflets at Charing x concerning Easter bank holiday changes but nothing about this which could fundamentally affect our journeys.
It’s very sad that they boast in the document about wi fi on trains (which customers don t need) whilst are seemingly going backwards in the more important rail infrastructure and timetable planning.