CHANGES to train timetables have prompted fears it could play havoc with journeys to work and school.

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, is warning passengers who use Preston Park Station in Brighton they could face cutbacks to the frequency of trains stopping there.

The MP spoke to early morning commuters at the station yesterday and some signed a petition against changes to services.

She is calling on passengers to respond to a consultation document published by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – the company that will run Sussex services from July.

The news comes a little over a week since The Argus broke the story that Southern Railway’s 7.29am service from Brighton to London did not arrive on time at all last year.

Holly Jenkins, 18, catches the train from Preston Park to Farringdon every week day to go to school.

She said: “Not being able to travel from this station would add at least another 45 minutes to my commute to school if I had to catch a bus to another station.

“The season ticket is expensive anyway but the added bus fares will cost me even more. It is already bad enough if a train is cancelled or delayed.”

Fellow commuter Piers Helm, who works in London, said any reductions would “inevitably” cause problems.

Ms Lucas, who is due to meet train bosses, the Office of Rail Regulation and rail minister MP Claire Perry next month, said: “This station has already suffered a reduction in the frequency of trains. The bottom line is there will be fewer services serving Preston Park.”

The company does not accept this claim and is urging passengers to consider the report, published in November, by January 30.

A GTR spokesman said the only train that has been removed this month is the 8.38am service to Victoria by Southern and that 19 trains now ran to Preston Park from London between 5pm and 8pm, which has increased from 17 in December.

He said: “There was virtually no reduction in service to London terminus stations at Preston Park this month and there are none in the proposed December 2015 timetable that is out for consultation now.

“The 2018 timetable is still under development and there are no proposals yet for either Preston Park or other stations.”

He said the timetable change was proposed to give passengers a better service.

Once the rail companies merge into the GTR franchise, there would be a single timetable for Sussex with more regular gaps between services aimed at making trains more punctual.

 

More on the consultation

NEW Gatwick Express trains could be introduced. They would have dedicated luggage space and charging points, plus free wi-fi and air- conditioning if brought in by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). The Gatwick Express service currently runs four times an hour between the airpor t and London. GTR wants to change Southern’s Brighton ‘express’ between London Victoria and Brighton, which calls at Clapham Junction and East Croydon, the consultation repor t said. The Gatwick Express will continue to run non-stop every 15 minutes between London Victoria and Gatwick Airpor t, and every 30 minutes during off-peak times on Monday to Friday. On Saturdays it would continue from the airpor t to Brighton. Slower hourly trains, dubbed ‘semi-fast’ trains, could be increased to half-hourly services to call at Clapham Junction and East Croydon as the revised Gatwick Express service would not call at these stations. This means these trains would call once an hour at Burgess Hill, Hassocks, Preston Park and Brighton, with the journey taking four to six minutes longer. 

Read and respond to the consultation here 

To sign a petition launched by Caroline Lucas click here