Thank you, Southfields
Thank you to everyone who came to Southfields station on Thursday evening, and to everyone who stopped to talk to us. We'll post photographs and what comes next here. If you haven't signed the petition yet, it takes a minute.
On the pavement outside Southfields station, Wimbledon Park Road, SW18 5RJ. Peaceful and family-friendly: come for any part of it, and bring the children. Map · Add to calendar · Full details →
Thank you to everyone who came to Southfields station on Thursday evening, and to everyone who stopped to talk to us. We'll post photographs and what comes next here. If you haven't signed the petition yet, it takes a minute.
Our press release for Thursday's demonstration at Southfields. It sets out what TfL told us in two Freedom of Information replies, next to what TfL said on BBC London in September: that re-signalling the branch would be “very, very expensive”, and that TfL “would definitely be looking for support from central government”.
Journalists: Max Barber and Susan Cusack are available for interview. Email campaign@fixthedistrict.org.
On 1 October TfL answered our Freedom of Information request about the branch. It holds no assessment since December 2020 of whether the branch's signalling could be replaced. It said there is “no specific plan or potential plan” in its Business Plan or Capital Plan, and “no associated funding assumed”. A long-term strategy for the District line's descoped areas is on its list of improvement work, but there are “no plans to start this piece of work in the short term”.
On 9 October, answering a second request, TfL confirmed it holds figures on the cost or saving of leaving the District line's western branches out of its signalling upgrade in 2020. It is still deciding whether to withhold them as commercially sensitive, and expects to decide by 6 November.
Thank you. Our petition asking the Government to fund modern signalling on the branch has passed 2,000 signatures. If you've signed, the most useful thing you can do now is send it to five people who use the line.
BBC London ran a news item on the delays passengers have logged on this site, repeated through its morning bulletins. The same day the story was on the BBC News website, in Metro and in Putney.news. The Instagram page imjustbait picked it up too, and its post has been liked more than 22,000 times.
Our second demonstration is outside Southfields station on Thursday 15 October, from 5pm to 7pm, with the group photograph at 6pm. Southfields is one stop past East Putney, where the new signalling stops. Come for any part of it.
Our first demonstration took place outside Wimbledon station on Thursday 17 September. Thank you to everyone who came, and to everyone who stopped to talk to us. Both BBC London and ITV News covered it — the first time the branch's signalling has been on the evening news. Photographs from the day are now on the demonstration's page, and both bulletins are here in full.
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