Nunhead Station - Meet the Manager (2)

A quick report back from our "Meet the Manager" session yesterday morning on Nunhead Station.

Dominic, Althea and I were joined by our London Assembly Member Val Shawcross as well as South Eastern Trains' public affairs manager Mike Gibson and the station manager Lynne.

As well as advertising the session on my blog and in the Southwark News we'd also delivered 1,500 leaflets around the local area so a fair number of people (like the lady in the pink) had come along with plenty of things to say. We were also approached by other commuters who just noticed us on the platform.

Some of the issues
Oyster card - when will South Eastern install Oyster and adopt the zone 1-6 fares system? It's good timing for this question as Ken Livingstone's offer to pay the company £20m for the installation runs out at the end of the month. South Eastern had a few excuses ready and say they'll take a decision by the end of the month. I hope it's the right one!

Cleanliness of the station - the worst problem is behind the fencing at the entrance to the station. South Eastern (SE) point out that this bit of land is the responsibility of Network Rail not them. Bit of buck passing really, but I suppose we'll just have to get onto Network Rail as well. Similar complaints were made about rubbish around the railway bridge over Evelina Rd - this is also Network Rail.

Wetness of stairs and big puddles in the tunnel - again SE claim this isn't their fault. Apparently it's a problem that needs to be sorted out between Network Rail (who own the station, although SE manage it) and Thames Water.

Planting outside the station - SE has now objection to some proper planting being done (although they don't seem willing to do it themselves). Hopefully we can get this sorted out between the council the SE shortly.

The big mast at the end of platform - the manager didn't know what this was being used for (if at all) and will find out if it's still needed. We also asked them to clean up the area around it.

A waiting room - lots of people asked for more seating and ideally a warm waiting place. SE didn't seem keen on this at all, claimed there would be security issues. I don't hold out much hope on this one, but I will push them on it.

More trains, particularly later in the evening from Victoria - this seems to depend on additional capacity opening up at Victoria. Another Network Rail question it appears. We need to look at their plans for the future in the South London Rail Utilisation Strategy the first draft of which should be out soon.

Accessibility - there isn't any indication as yet about when Nunhead Station will be made fully accessible, particularly with a lift. It seems to depend on the Department for Transport coming up with the money (because obviously it would be too much to expect a private company like SE to pay for it!). However, they did say they'd be willing to install a central handrail on the stairs and would consider installing an indicator board at the bottom of the stairs.

So overall I think it was worthwhile. We secured a few promises and items we can follow up with South Eastern and it looks like we'll need to get Network Rail down next.