9:30am Tuesday 15th August 2000
TRAIN users on the Woolwich and Plumstead line can no longer travel to Charing Cross outside the rush hour.
Erith and Thamesmead MP John Austin, who is a regular passenger from Belvedere railway station, has labelled the new timetable "barmy" and has protested to train operator Connex.
"We have been socially excluded from Charing Cross," he claimed. "Connex seems to think we are all bankers in this area, working flexible hours who need to get into the City at weekends.
"There isn't even an underground connection at Cannon Street at weekends," he pointed out. "The tube station is closed."
Connex has defended the decision. It says with the new Jubilee extension tube line now running, it has "opened up lots of new journey opportunities."
It added that a majority of its customers prefer to get off at London Bridge and switch to the underground.
A Connex spokesman said: "This is what our customers want.
"Tourists especially want to go to Cannon Street to see St Paul's and to get off at London Bridge for the Tower of London, the London Dungeon and other attractions."
He said Connex had approached London Underground about opening its Cannon Street station at weekends, but had so far received no response.
Connex also admitted that in order to provide people on the Woolwich line with a regular 15- minute service to London, the trains have to go to Cannon Street.
"Over the years the timetable has been added to piecemeal and people want a regular service," he explained.
"But the trains from Erith approach London Bridge on the Cannon Street side and have to move across all the lines to get to the Charing Cross side -- and there simply aren't sufficient opportunities do it at regular 15-minute intervals."
Connex says people who want to travel to Charing Cross can still do so late in the evening and on Sundays but they can also change trains at Greenwich or London Bridge.
The company is no longer fielding complaints sent via e-mail, although customers can now post their comments on its website at www.connex.co.uk
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