Southern Railway suddenly stopped the London Bridge service to Caterham / Tattenham Corner and back, stopping at Brockley, Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill, Sydenham, Penge West, Anerley leaving all these stations with no direct service to East Croydon (and back) and only a few stations with a direct service to London Bridge which does not seem to run most weekends. However Southern Railway has kept one early service and a late one only, perhaps just to position their staff?

This means a change at Norwood Junction, adding extra time and an extra change if travelling further to East Croydon or before East Croydon. It is important to highlight that Norwood Junction does not have escalator nor lift and when travelling towards London Bridge, it means changing platform via stairs down and then up. This affects all of us and it discriminates against:

• Mobility impaired people of all ages
• People in wheelchairs
• People with pushchairs
• People with Children
• People with luggage (as this line is used to go to Gatwick Airport and back)

How much travelling time does it add? The answer is a lot, in addition to an extra change and extra waiting time, it is simply inconvenient  and not acceptable! 

Most of the time in the direction to London Bridge, the train arrives at Norwood Junction with an overground train on the other platform but no time to reach it so one has to wait a long time for the next one after having gone down and up the stairs! Very often the train from East Croydon which stops at Norwood Junction is cancelled so passengers have to wait 30 minutes for the next train, this in addition to the longer journey time.

Searching for a train to or from Brockley, Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill, Sydenham etc to Brighton and you will get options that include two changes in 1 hour and 38 minutes or 3 changes in 1 hour and 22 minutes for the fastest journey from Honor Oak Park. Often with just a few minutes to change train and platform and with the on going delays, missing the connection so adding to an already long journey! Over 10 years ago, this journey was done in one hour!

All commuters using these stations are affected and Southern Railway can simply, easily and promptly restore this twice an hour service, 7 days a week

When these services are re-instated we can all go about more easily, including people using wheelchairs, mobility impaired people, people with pushchairs and children and people with luggage, saving a lot of valuable time for people commuting, going to the airport or simply using the service as we are dependent on it.

If Southern Railways refuses to reinstate these services, we are all affected and most of our train stations will mainly only have overground tube services.