Info for Harringay Station, Great Northern upgrade consultation

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Permalink Reply by Ravi Bhatia on September 5, 2017 at 14:05

Hi Guys,

Just to update you. I received a reply from the deputy mayor of London (our representative in the London assembly) and one of the local councillors. Catherine West(our MP) has also said she will write to great Northern re the new timetable. TFL may eventually take over, hopefullly soon- although like you guys have pointed out, this may not lead to an immediate improvement. I will post my reply in a separate post and we'll see what happens with chris Grayling's response.

But please all campaign to your local councillors and Catherine West and express your support. The more people that are involved and campaigning the more likely the service will improve with or without TFL.

Thanks again
Ravi



Dear Ravi

We have received the update below from Joanna McCartney AM.

Best wishes

Tim

Cllr Tim Gallagher
Labour councillor for Stroud Green ward
tim.gallagher@haringey.gov.uk
07812 677728

Hi All,

I think there may be some confusion over the recent consultation of a new train timetable on the Great Northern franchise.

As I understand it, services from Welwyn will no longer be running to Moorgate and will become a faster service aligning with Thameslink (hence not stopping at Harringay or Hornsey). However, this means there will be more capacity for Hertford trains and that many stations get an improved service.

There is no loss of service to Harringay and Hornsey – the changes will be:
Morning Peak (7-10am) = 24 trains ( up 1)
Daytime = 6 trains per hour ( no change)
Evening Peak = 6 trains per hour ( no change)
Evening = 6 trains per hour ( up 2)

The initial consultation last year caused uproar as some Enfield stations were to lose significantly, but most of this loss has been reversed in the new timetable. I have asked for written confirmation from Great Northern to allay any fears.

On the issue of TfL taking over the Great Northern franchise, there may be a glimmer of hope! When the Thameslink/Great Northern franchise was created I and TfL objected and made the case that Great Northern should be passed to TfL. This was not accepted at that time. However, due to the mess re south London train services the DfT commissioned a report to examine what could be done to improve reliability. That report written by Chris Gibb for the DfT recommends de-coupling the Great Northern franchise and passing to TfL immediately – so there is a window of opportunity! I attach my recent letter to Chris Grayling for your information. Also, page 50-51 of the Gibb report has the recommendation and it can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_dat...

If there is anything else I can assist with please let me know.

Best wishes

Joanne
Joanne McCartney AM
Deputy Mayor of London
Assembly Member for Enfield and Haringey
LONDONASSEMBLYLABOUR

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Permalink Reply by Ravi Bhatia on September 5, 2017 at 14:08

Dear Tim/Joanne/Catherine,

Apologies for the tardiness of my reply. I'm writing all of this in my spare time.

Thanks for all of your responses and input into my query. It's really heartening to see that you're all working to see better local transport services

Regarding Joanna's reply:

1. I agree, on paper, using the 'trains per hour' or 'trains per peak period' formula, the service might look incrementally better in the morning.

However, in reality, the trains aren't evenly spaced out. So even in the new timetable, in high peak time, one can still wait 13 mins for the a train stopping at Harringay and Hornsey to/from Moorgate. (E.g. 17:23/17:36 from Moorgate).

If, as often happens, the train is randomly cancelled, or so overcrowded one can't actually board, then it is a 17 minute wait at best, providing there are no other delays (for just an 18 minute journey) .

If it is too optimistic to ask for an increased number of trains, then maybe we could ask for

A- the fast trains to Gordon Hill/Welwyn that go to/from Moorgate to stop at H&H also. (E.g 17:27/17:32 from Moorgate in new timetable, page 10)

B-Or somehow space out the trains stopping at H&H to achieve a regular Metro service every 6-8 mins. This might be more achievable (with all of your support) with the platform/track constraints until the stations can be upgraded.

2. With regards to the TfL takeover: this is great news. I think residents would like to see Chris Grayling's response and maybe Catherine could also help lobby on this front also.

However, the takeover and improved services after, will realistically not happen for nearly half a decade even if TFL took over next year. And reading the public consultation from 2013/14 when Great Northern were handed the franchise and the Harringay online forums, residents have been campaigning for nearly that time already for improved train service/stations.

My worry is we lose the opportunity to campaign for better services in the new 2018 timetable in the false hope that TFL will take over services soon. And should the DfT renew Great Northern's franchise in 2021, we have another decade lost of awful train services for an ever increasing population of Harringay.

So by all means, please lobby the DfT for a TfL takeover, and please let us know the response, but please also lobby Great Northern to improve the service given the opportunity of them redesigning their timetable.

Thanks again for all of your help. I look forward to hearing DfT's response and any response you get from Great Northern.


Kind regards
Ravi



Ps . I attach a screenshot of an article that I read last week in the evening standard- apparently I might not be alone in thinking that 13 minutes might be a ridiculous amount of time to wait for a train in a world class capital city at 5.30pm.

Attachments:

• IMG_0425.JPG, 3 MB

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