Swanley may be short-changed by fewer stopping services to Blackfriars

Dear Sir,

Thanks to the Conservatives who run Kent County Council's failure to champion the new twice an hour Maidstone East fast service to Blackfriars from 2018, it looks as if Swanley will miss out on half the services.

In the draft timetable unveiled last week http://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/1975 only one extra train an hour will stop at Swanley and head to the City. The other will go through without stopping and pick up commuters at St Mary Cray. This will give Swanley a worse service than Otford or Borough Green - despite the fact that it is the biggest town in Sevenoaks District.

This has happened once again because Kent County Council has not made the case for rail services for Swanley. Just like last time they kept quite when the competition for new rail capacity was going on, and lost out to other councils in London who made a better case.

We need Kent County and Sevenoaks District Councillors who will stick up for the commuters of West Kent and get better services for them. So far they have been treated as captive customers who will pay for Kent's expensive improvements for East Kent.

Yours,

Alan Bullion

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman for Swanley and Sevenoaks

alan.bullion@informa.com