A Facebook group called “Save our Station (SOS) Winchfield and Hook Stations Action Group”, has been launched to combat the South Western Railways proposed cuts to services at Winchfield and Hook stations. SWR have proposed the cuts as part of their train timetable consultation.
The group can be found here. Please do visit their page to learn more about what is going on and express your disgust at the proposed #SWRCuts.
In the meantime, SWR are holding a customer feedback session at Waterloo on Wednesday 18 October between 16:00 and 19:00
Managers & Directors will be at Waterloo on Wed 18 Oct 4pm-7pm. Come along to give your feedback & ask questions about the new SWR Franchise pic.twitter.com/wClCjyn0vN
— SWR Help (@SW_Help) October 14, 2017
This has resulted in some interesting feedback from customers:
Our railway is managed and directed? [Couldn't resist that old Blackadder gag].
— Edmund Bayliss (@EdmundBayliss) October 15, 2017
If they get the train in they will be late for it ?
— Roibeard Mac (@Rob__Williams79) October 14, 2017
Can we bring cream Pies !?
— Cowonmyroof (@cowonmyroof) October 13, 2017
What can you do to help fight the #SWRCuts
Please do sign Ranil’s petition. It can be found here.
It would also be helpful if you could respond to the consultation directly by emailing your views to [email protected]. We have created a handy template to help you that is can be downloaded below.
Summary of SWR train timetable proposals
South Western Railways (SWR) has launched a consultation that proposes changes to services from Winchfield, Hook and Fleet train timetables. The full document can be found here. The proposals:
- Reduce the number of peak morning services from Hook and Winchfield to London from eight to five.
- Increase peak time services from Fleet by three.
Impact of SWR train timetable proposals
The current line to London is already running beyond capacity, and these changes will lead to the following impact:
- School children and students attending Farnborough Sixth form, Salesian and Farnborough Hill will now have far fewer services to choose from to get from Hook/Winchfield to Farnborough.
- This is likely to lead to both over-crowded trains and increased car journeys, leading to more pollution and congestion
- No effective increase in capacity from Fleet, Winchfield and Hook to London, even though services are already over-crowded.