It has emerged that Ministers plan to cut 219 hours per week off ticket office opening times at train stations in London, under plans agreed by the Government and South West trains.

A total of 20 stations across London will be hit, some losing all weekend ticket office services, while others will now be unattended in the evenings, prompting fears over passenger safety.

The plans show that worst hit are Wandsworth Town and Chessington South, which will have their ticket office opening hours reduced by a shocking 20-30 hours a week, including no longer providing any service at weekends.

Safety fears have been raised for passengers travelling after dark, as the ticket office at Barnes stations will all close between 1 and 2.5 hours earlier in the evenings, with none of them staying open later than 7pm. Barnes is a popular station with West Putney residents.

These reductions in services follow recent reports that South West Trains are shedding hundreds of jobs in an effort to cut costs.

Shadow Minister for London & Putney's MP Justine Greening whose analysis uncovered the extent of cut ticket office hours, said:
 “These Government-backed plans will seriously inconvenience thousands of Londoners who use these stations every day. To slash opening times by over 200 hours is staggering- and that’s just in London. Worse still, the serious cuts in weekend and evening services raise real concerns over passenger safety. Rail passengers already face delays and over-crowding, and now the Government is making it harder for them to simply buy a ticket.”

Transport spokesman for Wandsworth Council Cllr Guy Senior Pictured right said:
"This is a real kick in the teeth for rail passengers who are already forced to endure long periods of the day when there is absolutely no member of staff available to offer any kind of assistance.

Many passengers will feel very wary and hesitant about waiting for a train at a station where there is simply no-one in authority to help them in an emergency and many will have increased concerns about their personal safety. Instead of ticket offices passengers will be expected to use machines. But experience tells us that many of these machines are often broken or out of service and they only give a limited range of tickets.

He continued , "The cuts at Barnes station are also deeply worrying. This station lies in a remote location on Barnes Common and we have great concerns about passengers' personal safety there. As well as many residents in the west of the borough, it is also widely used by staff at Queen Mary's Hospital and students at Roehampton University and they may now decide to travel by car rather than rail.

"At a time when the focus is on encouraging people to use public transport instead of their cars, this decision by South West Trains and endorsed by ministers, flies in the face of efforts to reduce car usage and cut carbon emissions."  

	Current Hours
STATION	Mon-Fri Open	Mon-Fri Close	Sat Open	Sat Close	Sun Open	Sun Close
BARNES	0625	2005	0640	2015	0910	1640
BERRYLANDS	0620	1340	0810	1530	CLOSED	CLOSED
BRENTFORD	0625	1315	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED
CHESSINGTON NORTH	0640	1340	0705	1400	CLOSED	CLOSED
CHESSINGTON SOUTH	0630	1418	0715	1503	CLOSED	CLOSED
EARLSFIELD	0630	2000	0645	2000	0810	1540
FULWELL	0640	1400	0640	1400	CLOSED	CLOSED
HAMPTON	0640	2030	0740	2100	0755	1525
HAMPTON WICK	0640	1330	0740	1340	CLOSED	CLOSED
HOUNSLOW	0625	1310	0740	16:10	CLOSED	CLOSED
MALDEN MANOR	0630	1350	0640	1400	CLOSED	CLOSED
MORTLAKE	0625	1950	0625	1950	0910	1640
MOTSPUR PARK	0630	1325	0730	1425	0740	1510
NEW MALDEN	0630	1950	0640	2000	0810	1740
RAYNES PARK	0620	2045	0620	2045	0810	1830
ST MARGARETS	0620	2000	0710	1400	0910	1640
STRAWBERRY HILL	0615	1955	0740	1710	0840	1610
TOLWORTH	0640	1330	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED
WANDSWORTH TOWN	0640	1355	07:40	1455	CLOSED	CLOSED
WHITTON	0600	1945	06:40	2025	0910	1640

 

	New Government-Agreed Hours
STATION	Mon-Fri Open	Mon-Fri Close	Sat Open	Sat Close	Sun Open	Sun Close
BARNES	0645	1845	0700	1900	1000	1300
BERRYLANDS	0620	1010	0810	1300	CLOSED	CLOSED
BRENTFORD	0630	1030	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED
CHESSINGTON NORTH	0640	1200	0800	1230	CLOSED	CLOSED
CHESSINGTON SOUTH	0630	1000	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED
EARLSFIELD	0630	2000	0730	2000	0800	1530
FULWELL	06:40	1100	0900	1400	CLOSED	CLOSED
HAMPTON	0640	1800	0740	1800	0900	1500
HAMPTON WICK	0640	1235	08:00	13:40	CLOSED	CLOSED
HOUNSLOW	0625	1310	0740	1430	CLOSED	CLOSED
MALDEN MANOR	0630	1100	0900	1300	CLOSED	CLOSED
MORTLAKE	0625	1950	0830	1900	0930	1600
MOTSPUR PARK	0630	1300	0800	1300	0900	1400
NEW MALDEN	0630	1950	0700	2000	0900	1740
RAYNES PARK	0620	2000	0700	2000	0900	1830
ST MARGARETS	0620	1900	0800	1400	0910	1600
STRAWBERRY HILL	0615	1900	0800	1700	0900	1300
TOLWORTH	0630	1030	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED
WANDSWORTH TOWN	0640	1100	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED	CLOSED
WHITTON	0600	1945	0640	2000	0900	1600

 
Reduction in Ticket Office Opening Hours 

STATION	Current Weekly Hours Total	New Weekly Hours Total	Difference
BARNES	89Hours 25 Mins	75 Hours	14 Hours 25 Mins
BERRYLANDS	44 Hours	24 Hours	20 Hours
BRENTFORD	34 Hours 10 Mins	20 Hours	14 Hours 10 Mins
CHESSINGTON NORTH	41 Hours 55 Mins	31 Hours 10 Mins	10 Hours 45 Mins
CHESSINGTON SOUTH	46 Hours 48 Mins	17 Hours 30 Mins	29 Hours 18 Mins
EARLSFIELD	88 Hours 15 Mins	87 Hours 30 Mins	45 Mins
FULWELL	44 Hours	26 Hours 40 Mins	17 Hours 20 Mins
HAMPTON	90 Hours	73 Hours	17 Hours
HAMPTON WICK	40 Hours 10 Mins	37 Hours 15 Mins	2 Hours 55 Mins
HOUNSLOW	42 Hours 15 mins	40 Hours 35 Mins	1 Hour 40 Mins
MALDEN MANOR	44 Hours	27 Hours 30 Mins	16 Hours 30 Mins
MORTLAKE	88 Hours	84Hours 5 Mins	3 Hours 55 Mins
MOTSPUR PARK	49 Hours	37 hours 30 Mins	11 hours 30 Mins
NEW MALDEN	89 Hours 30 Mins	88 Hours 20 Mins	1 Hours 10 Mins
RAYNES PARK	96 Hours 50 Mins	90 Hours 50 Mins	6 Hours
ST MARGARETS	82 Hours 40 Mins	76 Hours 10 Mins	6 Hours 30 Mins
STRAWBERRY HILL	85 Hours 20 Mins	76 Hours 45 Mins	8 Hours 35 Mins
TOLWORTH	34 Hours 10 Mins	20 Hours	14 Hours 10 Mins
WANDSWORTH TOWN	43 Hours 30 Mins	21 Hours 40 Mins	21 Hours 50 Mins
WHITTON	90 Hours	89 Hours 5 Mins	55 Mins
		TOTAL	219 Hours 23 Mins

 

 

 

March 4, 2009