Extra trains for Alexandra Palace but Bowes Park still at pre-pandemic service levels

Great Northern’s new timetable has been criticised by London Assembly member Joanne McCartney, reports James Cracknell

A Great Northern train and (inset) Joanne McCartney

Haringey’s representative at City Hall has criticised a railway company for failing to restore services at Bowes Park to their pre-pandemic levels after describing its latest timetable change “very disappointing”.

Joanne McCartney – who represents both Enfield and Haringey boroughs on the London Assembly – has long been calling for Great Northern to reintroduce the four-trains-per-hour off-peak service provided before 2020 along the Hertford Loop route, but the rail firm has again ignored her pleas with its new summer timetable.

While there will be an improvement for passengers using Alexandra Palace Station, with services between King’s Cross and Cambridge now stopping there, there is no extra capacity planned for people using Bowes Park and the other stations further north on the route to Hertford. There will also be no additional trains serving either Harringay or Hornsey stations.

At Alexandra Palace, as well as the extra stopping services on the route to King’s Cross, there will be a more evenly-spaced 15-minute off-peak service into Moorgate thanks to rescheduling on the Welwyn Hatfield and Hertford Loop lines.

However, Joanne remains critical of the rail company’s refusal to boost services north of Alexandra Palace. She said: “We had four-trains-per-hour in the off-peak [before the pandemic] but we are now down to two-trains-per-hour and the new timetable does not increase capacity at all for services northwards of Alexandra Palace.

“I am very disappointed. This is my local train service and there is overcrowding during peak times, when there is standing room only, and off-peak there are just two-trains-per-hour.

“We are still at half the service we had prior to the pandemic.”

She added: “The [additional] Alexandra Palace service is helpful, but it doesn’t particularly do anything for the normal commuter going into town.”

Joanne has also been campaigning for Great Northern’s services to be transferred to Transport for London’s control, to become part of the London Overground network. However, the government has recently blocked this move.

In the meantime, the Labour AM wants to see Great Northern restore pre-pandemic service levels. But in a letter to her explaining the decision, the rail franchise’s managing director Tom Moran wrote: “First, our half-hourly London King’s Cross to Cambridge services will now call all day at Alexandra Palace. These are eight-coach trains and the additional stop will increase capacity during our peak times, both directly at Alexandra Palace and indirectly across our wider metro services as a result of customers transferring.

“The second change relates to our off-peak services. We have reviewed and changed the timing of almost every train on our routes to and from Moorgate. This means that when the two routes combine in the Alexandra Palace to Moorgate section, they will now provide a regular frequency of approximately every 15 minutes.

“This will not only make the service much easier to use in the busier section from a ‘turn up and go’ perspective, it should help manage peak times as the current, uneven timings can result in ‘bunching’ on some trains with later services being relatively empty.”

Regarding Harringay and Hornsey services, Tom added: “We have no immediate plans to do this [increase capacity] and, in the medium term, do need to ensure we match our level of service to demand, particularly given the ongoing loss-making status of our railway, which continues to be subsidised by the Department for Transport.”

Joanne said she recognises that demand for services is still lower than it was pre-pandemic, but warned: “Part of this is because the government will not fund extra capacity, but there is a danger of a vicious circle – if people think there is a poor service, they won’t use it.

“Passengers won’t come back if they think they can’t rely on it. This is a growing area and a world class city and we should be doing better than two-trains-per-hour.”

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