Chiltern Railways and the Sudbury Stations

Chiltern Railways have regular informal 'Meet the Managers' sessions. We encourage you to attend those at Marylebone station. There is a list of responses from previous 'Meet the Managers' sessions on the Chiltern Railways website.

The Brent & Kilburn Times has picked up on our campaign to get more trains stopping at Sudbury & Harrow Road Station.

The article draws attention to the station's skeletal train service and dangerously narrow platforms. It also sympathises with residents whose lives have been blighted by the anti-social behaviour that takes place on the platform, overlooked by the homes of Barham Village, when there are no commuters at this unmanned, unrestricted station.

Members of STRA met with Chiltern Railways managers on 13 April 2018 to explore improvements that could be made at Sudbury & Harrow Road station, and a community rail agreement with STRA.

It was agreed on the following action points - 

• To renew several posters which are damaged and out of date (London and South East rail map, Onward travel poster)
• To share information on the User Group Fund and how this could be applied for.
• To share a blank station adoption agreement for them to review
• To review CCTV the down platform (towards Birmingham) alighting to ascertain if there is a safety risk
• To ascertain the ownership of the triangle of land adjacent to the approach path to see if this could be used for a community project.
• To look at whether a simplified poster could be put up with only the times of trains calling at the station

In addition, STRA Executive Committee are considering a Community Rail Agreement for the station.

Watch this space for more information! 

London TravelWatch

A member has brought to our attention Chiltern MD Dave Penney's session with the London TravelWatch Board on 24 October 2017, when he gave a presentation about Chiltern's services and future plans, and answered questions, criticisms and comments. The record of that presentation and discussion can be found on the LTW website, in the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2017 .

SUDBURY & HARROW ROAD STATION & TRAIN SERVICE

YOUR CHANCE TO TELL CHILTERN RAILWAYS MANAGERS WHAT YOU THINK  - IN PERSON!

Chiltern Railways are holding another of their "Meet the Managers" drop-in sessions at Marylebone station on 20 June 2018 between 4 and 7pm.  "We're Listening" proclaims their poster - "Please come and talk to us about any queries, compliments or complaints you may have about our trains, stations or services".

So let's not disappoint them - please stop by on your way home through Marylebone on the day and tell them what you think. The more people who complain about the present level of service at Sudbury & Harrow Road, the more chance we have of getting it improved.  It'll only take you a few minutes, and every little helps!

STRA and Chiltern line services from Sudbury & Harrow Road Station

Chiltern Services from Sudbury and Harrow Road Station have always been popular due to their speedy journey time – less than fifteen minutes – into Marylebone. STRA has been lobbying Chiltern Railways for a cleaner, brighter station and more frequent services for its residents. Chiltern Railways, acting on STRA’s escalation of these matters, has installed new lighting and other improvements at Sudbury & Harrow Road Station.

The station’s importance has grown since the opening of the new development of more than three hundred new houses. It is very popular with new commuters who have just moved to live in the new Barham Village Estate behind Sudbury & Harrow Road Station.

STRA now wants to take its lobbying to the next level and increase the frequency of the services, including campaigning for some trains to stop at the station on weekends. STRA volunteer Mustafa Kanchwala took the initiative and put together a digital survey to assess the commuter response with SurveyMonkey.

On Wednesday, 17 May, STRA volunteers distributed SurveyMonkey and STRA leaflets to commuters boarding the 7.01am, 7.56am and 9.05am Marylebone-bound trains. STRA had a positive engagement and was able to share its aspiration to be the voice of the community in seeking a “cleaner, greener, safer” and more accessible Sudbury.

STRA would like to offer its sincere thanks to Daniels Estate Agents, who sponsored the leaflets, and to Mustafa Kanchwala, Renu Kaul and John Carroll for their support in distributing the leaflets.

We recommend you encourage your neighbours and friends to join STRA and make your voices heard.

For information on how to join and to find out more about STRA’s vision for the future of Sudbury, please contact Mrs. Renu Kaul at deputychair@stra.org.uk

Sudbury & Harrow Road Rail User Group

From Rail User Express (www.futurerail.org.uk).

RUEx welcomes the newly formed RUG for Sudbury & Harrow Road, the least-used station in London despite a 15 minute journey time into town and a town-centre location with excellent bus interchange, but just four trains each way daily, weekdays only. Those interested in joining/supporting the new group should contact Renu Kaul. Users and potential users of the station are invited to complete a survey/questionnaire to give their views on the sort of service they would like to see.

Two STRA members have raised awareness of the poor levels of service at Sudbury Harrow Road statiion by writing to the media. Copies of the letters are shown below.

As part of our campaign for an improved service from Sudbury Harrow Road and at the very least to stop the decline in service levels we have received the following letters from our MP.

Sudbury’s councillors have welcomed the fact that Transport for London has expressed support for improved services at Sudbury’s two stations.

In response to a question from London Assembly Liberal Democrat Leader Caroline Pidgeon, Mayor of London Boris Johnson said he would write a letter to Chiltern Railways expressing his concerns about the reduction in service at Sudbury and Harrow Road Station and Sudbury Hill, Harrow.

Sudbury councillor Paul Lorber, who has consistently campaigned for improved rail
services for local residents, said:

We need a bit more from the Mayor of London that writing a letter. More frequent trains would make the service from Sudbury to Marylebone much more attractive for local commuters and leisure users alike. The Managing Director of Chiltern Railways has told me that he doesn’t believe the political will exists to provide improved services at Sudbury’s station. We need a more sustained commitment by the Mayor of London and Transport for London to prove otherwise.

 Cllr Paul Lorber and fellow Sudbury councillor Chandubhai Patel are angry that the previous Labour Government extended the Chiltern Franchise beyond 2020 without obtaining guarantees for a better service for Sudbury passengers.

 Caroline Pidgeon’s question was (Sudbury rail services, Question No: 1828 / 2012):

Caroline Pidgeon:

Chiltern Railways are proposing to reduce the number of services that stop at Sudbury station. What representations will you make to Chiltern Railways to ensure that this group of Londoners do not lose their rail services?

Written response from the Mayor:

I am very frustrated that a further reduction in service frequency is proposed for the December 2012 timetable change at Sudbury station. While the introduction of a clock-face timetable has some benefits, the reduced frequencies in London that result are unacceptable. For over two years TfL, alongside MPs, boroughs, London TravelWatch and users groups, has been pressing for improvements and put detailed proposals for enhancements to Chiltern Railways and Network Rail as recently as March 2012. Disappointingly, Chiltern and Network Rail have said they are unable to implement any frequency improvements at these stations because this would risk affecting the performance of their services.

This is an unacceptable situation and I will be writing to Chiltern Railways to voice my concerns about the continuing degradation of services.