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<p>Whist I do understand the inconvenience the works at London Bridge will cause to
all passengers on a number of routes I will not be requiring train companies operating
services from Reigate to Redhill stations, or from any other stations, to compensate
passengers outside the normal Passenger Charter compensation arrangements.</p><p>
</p><p>To require operators to provide further compensation would not only set a precedent
for every future timetable change that reduced a service to/from a station throughout
the duration of essential infrastructure upgrades required to improve our national
rail network. It would also put additional strain on the public purse as requiring
operators to provide such non contracted compensation would lead to operators seeking
additional funds from Government and increasing the cost of all future improvement
schemes on our network.</p><p> </p><p>I fully recognise that planned changes to train
services as a result of engineering works can be inconvenient, but it is often impossible
to rebuild and improve our Victorian infrastructure without some impact on services
– sometimes for an extended period. I know Network Rail and train operators work hard
to keep disruption to a minimum.</p>
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