London Transport have named Surbiton Station 'Rail Station of The Year'.
The award was presented to Kingston Council at a dinner attended by over 600 people last Wednesday. Other finalists included the London Borough of Bromley and Chiltern Railways.
Surbiton received special attention for it's recent improvements for cyclist and pedestrian.
Read more at the Kingston Borough Council website and The Kingston Guardian...
Though announced as being better for Surbiton commuters, many passengers are angry today after new South West Trains timetables come into effect.
Late trains and short carriages greeted Surbiton train travellers this morning. Though the real cause is unclear, many are blaming South West Trains' radical new scheduling that introduced massive changes. The new timetables will actually add more services stopping a Surbiton, but this was little consolation for disillusioned passengers waiting on cold platforms this morning. Some trains even carried extra transport police officers to deter threats of revolt from commuters.
It's great for parking your bike.
The London Cycling Campaign awarded Kingston Borough Council a 'Cycling Oscar' in their Annual General Meeting last week. Surbiton Station was judged the 'Best Cycle Facility' for it's double-decker cycle racks.
Read more at Bikebiz.com...
After 24 hours without food and water, a day longer he and his crew may have died.
After running into difficulties while travelling from Southern Ireland to France, David Faulkner and his crew of four were forced to abandon their converted fishing boat and take to their life raft. Seven terrifying days later they were rescued by a Cornish Coastguard helicopter, after managing to call emergency services on a mobile phone.
Read more in The Newquay Voice and The Guardian...
Radical new timetable leaving many with longer journey times may benefit Surbiton commuters.
From December 12th, South West Trains intend to make fundmental changes to train times on many of their services, with reportedly longer times for many routes.
Read more in The Ealing Times...
Surbiton mental health patient is jailed after setting alight to adult magazine in airliner.
Proposed plans to change car parking at Surbiton Station are to be discussed with the public.
At 5.30pm on Monday March 15 at the Victoria Road YMCA, the public has been invited to comment on Kingston Borough's plans to improve the parking and develop housing in the South East corner.
The draft brief to be discussed, which can be downloaded from the council's website, proposes the following:
With the possible reduced parking due to this proposed housing development, and another proposal to impose residential parking restrictions, it makes one wonder whether station car park users gain much benefit?
They kept it a bit quiet, but between 3pm and 5pm on Monday 9 February, www.e-motionmagazine.co.uk hosted a live online chat with Andrew Haines, South West Trains' Managing Director.
The recently annouced forecourt changes to Surbiton station have met with opposition by it's most frequent users, the taxi drivers.
The changes planned for the front and rear entrance roadways are intended to improve accessability, but the cabbies aren't happy with the £150,000 scheme as it will reduce the space available for parking their taxis. The current allocation of 30 places is to be replaced with just 22.
The Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association have lodged an objection to Transport for London and Kingston Council asking for alternative parking to be considered by the Surbiton neighbourhood commitee at their meeting in mid December.
South West Trains has named Surbiton station as it's award winner for cleanliness and friendliness. Did they confuse it with another Surbiton somewhere?
The station gets a £1,000 prize and each staff member gets a £50 token. Shame they can't do anything about the service though.
It's an interesting comparison to it's other recent nomination for 'The Hans Christian Anderson award for most original excuse.'
Read the rest in the Kingston Guardian...
