THE South London Press is backing campaigners’ calls for Boris Johnson to come to the rescue of rail services this side of the river. Save the South London Line (SLL) members are asking thousands of people to write to the London Mayor urging him to save a proposed replacement for the line that runs from London Bridge to Victoria. Last year, Transport of London (TfL) and the Department for Transport (DfT) decided to scrap the SLL in 2012. A proposed replacement from Bellingham to London Bridge was also ditched and the £24million – or £2.5million per year – due to fund it was diverted to the East London line extension from West Croydon to Dalston Junction via South-east London.
This year, TfL agreed to review the decision – and with the results due out this month, campaigners are urging residents to keep up the pressure on Mr Johnson. Stephen Govier, of the campaign group, said: “I am a great believer in the East London line but that can’t be used as an excuse to cut the existing services. We need radial and orbital links.” He said the cost of keeping the Bellenden line was about the same cost as running a bus service. “There is no justification for saying it’s a money issue.”
Labour London Assembly member for Southwark and Lambeth, Val Shawcross, said: “We want to remind people that they need to put in a last-push email to say, ‘We’ve not gone away.’” The SLL runs from Victoria to London Bridge via Battersea Park, Wandsworth Road, Clapham High Street, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye, Queens Road Peckham and South Bermondsey. The service is due to stop in 2012 when building works at London Bridge mean there will no longer be room for it to terminate there. To register your support for the campaign – fill in the letter below.