Boris Johnson pushing for control of London's suburban railways (From This Is Local London)

Boris Johnson pushing for control of London's suburban railways

4:28pm Saturday 11th February 2012 in Where I Live By David Mills

Boris Johnson pushing for control of London's suburban railways

Mayor of London Boris Johnson is calling on the government to hand over control of the capital's suburban railways to City Hall.

But with the mayoral election looming in May, his opponents say he's had years to do this.

Under the proposals train companies such as Southeastern, whose franchise comes up for renewal in 2014, would be integrated into Transport for London.

Mr Johnson claims this would save millions of pounds and give passengers more reliable and frequent services, safer and cleaner stations, more staff and simpler fares.

His plan would mean putting on more services in Bromley and elsewhere by introducing ‘turn-up-and-go’ with at least four trains per hour throughout the week.

He also promised to provide better access to Petts Wood station for prams and wheelchairs.

Mr Johnson said: "The fractured organisation of London’s suburban railways is totally inefficient and needs a complete overhaul.

"My vision is for one integrated suburban service operating to the standards we have demonstrated can be achieved on London Overground, which is now one of the most reliable and popular railways in the UK."

However a spokesman for his Labour rival Ken Livingstone said it was a case of "Boris following Ken's lead again".

Mr Livingstone has already pledged for TfL to take over suburban train companies should he win in May.

Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat's mayoral candidate, said that while Mr Johnson had been planning "vanity projects" such as his "fantasy airport", the Lib Dems had been calling for TfL to take over train franchises "for many years".

Orpington MP and the Mayor of London's brother Jo Johnson, has written to the Transport Secretary Justine Greening expressing his support for the idea.

He said: "The existing system whereby central government controls the franchises of all these inner London suburban services is hopelessly inefficient.

"It makes sense to hand control to City Hall so it can run it more efficiently. The system at the moment is ridiculously fragmented."

A spokesman for Southeastern said: "We appreciate that no-one likes paying more for a journey, but fares are set by the government to cover the cost of running the rail network and to shift the burden from taxpayers to passengers.

"We’re focused on providing a high quality and reliable service for our passengers and the most recent independent survey has shown our hard work is paying off. "In the National Passenger Survey, 83 percent of Southeastern passengers reported they were satisfied with our service; this is the best score ever achieved by any operator of the South Eastern Network.

"Our most recent punctuality figures are also at an all time high– with 91.6 percent of trains arriving on time.

"This is at a time when we are running more trains than ever before and carrying more passengers.

"We’ve also seen some noticeable gains in customer satisfaction for the overall station environment, the cleanliness of facilities and improved information about train times.

"Despite these pleasing results, we’re not complacent and remain committed to providing a high quality service - regardless of who oversees the franchise."