Serious concerns highlighted

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council is formally responding to the South Western Railway (SWR) consultation on changes to its timetables due to come into effect in December 2022.

SWR has stated that, after the pandemic, overall passenger demand would recover to around 76 per cent of pre-Covid levels. The company has therefore proposed to provide 93 per cent of the capacity it had before the pandemic struck, resulting in service cuts at peak and off peak times.

The council is responding to the consultation raising significant concerns with these proposals.

The council believe the proposed changes will have a negative impact on the environment, as by reducing the frequency of train services at Epsom, Stoneleigh and Ewell West stations, travellers will be left with less sustainable transport options. This could lead to increased car use with the negative consequences relating to carbon emissions, air pollution, congestion on roads, noise and borough residents’ health and wellbeing.

The proposals fail to take into consideration the transport need created by future housing growth both within Epsom and Ewell and the surrounding areas serviced by the rail stations within the borough.

The claim that the proposals will see services return to 93% of pre covid capacity does not apply to services running through Epsom. According to the consultation document, services to Epsom will be significantly lower. The reduction in frequencies at Epsom, Stoneleigh and Ewell West is therefore vastly disproportionate compared with the rest of the South Western Rail network.

The borough’s excellent connectivity is a major contributing factor for local businesses and a reason that many choose to base themselves here. By reducing the frequency of services, the council is concerned that this will make businesses less likely to locate in Epsom and Ewell.

One of the justifications for reducing services through Epsom is because Epsom station is also served by Southern Rail. Southern Rail also reduced their services during the pandemic and there are no certain plans that these services will return. Southern Rail only run services into London Bridge and Victoria. There will be a disproportionate impact on many of this borough residents who travel to Waterloo and other transport nodes on this route, including Wimbledon and Clapham Junction. Further, Ewell West and Stoneleigh are not served by Southern Rail and will be impacted more significantly than Epsom Station in terms of reduced frequency of service.

As trains are being phased out under this proposal, there will be no capacity should passenger numbers require an increase in services.