A planned new train service from Victoria to Bellingham, via Crofton Park, has been secretly axed by Transport for London. The 'Phantom Train' would have made given our transport links in Lewisham a huge boost. Transport for London's decision means that many people in the Crofton Park area now lose their direct link to the west of London.
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The detail
The Bellingham to Victoria service was first proposed in the South London Route Utilisation Strategy published by Network Rail in March 2008.
The purpose of the new service was to mitigate the loss of the South London Line (London Bridge to Victoria), which would have been physically necessary for the East London Line Phase II to be built.
The concern of transport planners and local residents was that Denmark Hill and other stations on the route would lose their frequent service to Victoria and that Clapham High Street would lose any direct connection to Victoria.
The Bellingham proposal would have solved this problem. The two projects (ELL Phase II and Bellingham-Victoria) were supposed to be part of the same package/proposal, as they supplemented each other.
TfL first proposed dropping the new Bellingham service, claiming it was unnecessary, and they asked the DfT for the new Bellingham service's 24 million to go towards ELL Phase II instead. Then that the DfT made the dropping of the Bellingham service a condition of ELL Phase II funding.