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Train Services from Liphook - Steve (25th Nov 2003 - 17:15:54) Now that Liphook is a growing community would it be possible to get something done about the train services to and from Liphook. There are a huge number of commuters getting trains from Liphook everyday and it's just been announced that there will only be 1 train an hour to London Waterloo during the day. Surely Liphook warrants a train station and services like Haslemere's? I am not a train commuter any more but it would be nice if the frequency of trains to Liphook were similar to that of Haslemere and Petersfield. Also some sort of permanent paper and coffee facility would be nice. It would be great if the trains were on time and the prices were reduced aswell. I'd also like Englands football team to win the world cup and for me to win the national lottery. All completely ridiculous of course.

Re: Train Services from Liphook - Mike Grimes (25th Nov 2003 - 23:35:30) I am a commuter myself and sympathise with some of what Steve says but feel he may be peeing off platform 1 into a brisk south easterly. I'm pretty sure that the SWT fat controller does not check the Liphook website all that often to see when he should schedule in some extra trains. In fact if Steve were a commuter he would find that the train services to and from Liphook (at usual commuting times) were substantially better than one train per hour but I agree that it would be nice if more fast services stopped at Liphook (but nowhere else, of course). The new coffee facility appears to be permanent and it does sell the Liphook Herald although you would currently have to walk 50 Yrds to get a national daily paper. There is usually a Passenger User Committee or somesuch that this type of request (for additional services) can be directed to. Does anyone know if there is one here? Now onto my gripe, I would really like to see proper pedestrian access to the station, I mean access that pedestrians can call their own without having to dispute it with the plethora of significant others picking up their significant others in their shopping / school run vehicles as well as taxis and buses. We can't walk to Guildford / London but we could walk to the Station.

Re: Train Services from Liphook - Freddie Dawkins (26th Nov 2003 - 10:44:03) Best local contacts are: Jim Walters, Chairman of the Parish's Highways, Byways and Transport Committee and John Tough, a member of the Committee and a Transport Consultant. They have been campaigning to get better access to the southbound platform and better access onto trains, for disabled people. They have also been looking at having a morning and evening bus service, so that commuters can leave their cars at home and know they will get to the station in time to catch trains. Idea is to have a flat fare, which would be less than the parking charges. Both Cllrs can be contacted via the Parish Office 01428 722988 Freddie Dawkins Parish Councillor

Re: Train Services from Liphook - Alex Cameron (26th Nov 2003 - 12:27:46) If i had a penny for all the complaints i had about SWT in general, i could retire now ;) I regularly use the liphook-waterloo line to commute and its a thoroughly depressing experience. More often than not i tend to go from Haslemere whenever i can - just due to the fact that the frequency and speed of the trains is so much better. Obviously something needs to be done, but in my experience despite being initially co-operative, the train companies tend to be ludicrously ineffective. One only has to look at the 9.10am train to waterloo which arrives at least 5 mins late every morning without fail (why on earth they don't just call it the 9.15 train is beyond me). Other amusing inadequacies include the conductor's ticket machines being manufactured in the early 1980s and the main rolling stock being used was originally built in the 1960s. And don't get the sales guy started on the 1980's ticket machine with the flashing buttons.... For a town of 28,000 residents, we just don't have enough, but i can imagine SWT's reasons for not including liphook in the fast services. Mainly because there isn't the sheer number of passengers that there are at other stations. And i wonder if our train reduction is part of the main policy of reducing delays by fiddling the figures (i.e. less trains, less delays)? I'd like to see (funding of course growing on trees): 1) Safety barriers (several fatal accidents have occured in the last few years) 2) Improved disabled access 3) Modern toilets (20p fee with access code if necessary) 4) A punctual train every 15mins at peak commuter times (as at haslemere), especiallly between 8.23 and 9.10 when's there a very inconvenient 45min gap.... 5) Satellite television in a properly heated waiting room 6) Security guards at known problem times 7) A second ticket window 8) Wireless broadband access for laptop users (wi-fi hotspot - very cheap to implement) 9) Expected times of arrival for each stop 10) A track bridge with a roof 11) A longer platform! I could go on, but i'm confident that neither the money nor the will is there to make things better - i wish i wasn't so pessimistic but after several years of travelling from our statton its my solid belief that the decision-makers in charge care frightening little about their customersand ruthlessly exploit that they have little alternative.

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