MP Backs Strawberry Hill Residents over Train Delays

11.43.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 8th Nov 2004

Vincent Cable MP has asked SW Trains to reconsider their new 2005 timetable in respect of Strawberry Hill which (like Whitton) will face half hour gaps between trains (with two trains in opposite directions arriving at virtually the same time; at Whitton, three will arrive within a few minutes). Journeys will also be slower since SW Trains has added an extra wait of 40 seconds to every stop to Waterloo (there are 10 from Strawberry Hill).

Vincent Cable said: "A couple of our local stations are losing out from the reorganised timetable and Strawberry Hill is particularly badly affected. Thousands of commuters use the station. They have now had two pieces of bad news: the threatened axing of the extension of the Crossrail project along the Kingston loopline and, now, the introduction of a less frequent and even slower service. I appreciate that SW Trains have to juggle commitments to different groups of passengers but a more satisfactory outcome has to be found."