Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with Southeastern on the potential merits of reinstating Cannon Street services on the mid-Kent (Hayes) line in the context of recent levels of congestion at London Bridge station.

To reduce congestion at busy junctions and give better punctuality and fewer cancellations for Southeastern customers overall, all trains on the Hayes line now go to London Charing Cross.

This means that customers looking to travel to Cannon Street need to change on to frequent connecting services at London Bridge or Lewisham. As the train operator, Southeastern are responsible for the detailed planning of their timetable and in doing so have to weigh up a range of factors such as passenger demand, operational impacts, customer feedback and financial constraints.

Department officials hold regular discussions with the Southeastern covering all aspects of their service including timetable development. Recent scenes of crowding at London Bridge, which attracted media attention, were unrelated to the timetable.