Fix the District Demo Attracts Cross Party Support
Putney MP and council leader join protest at Southfields station
Demonstrators outside Southfields station this Thursday
October 16, 2026
The leader of Wandsworth Council joined the borough’s transport cabinet member, councillors from both major parties and Putney MP Fleur Anderson at a demonstration calling for improvements to the District line’s Wimbledon branch.
Robert Morritt, leader of Wandsworth Council, and Nick Austin, the council’s cabinet member for transport, attended the protest outside Southfields station on Thursday 15 October, organised by passenger campaign Fix the District.
Their presence underlined the breadth of local political concern about the reliability of a service used by commuters travelling through East Putney, Southfields and Wimbledon.
The demonstration was the campaign’s second, following an earlier protest at Wimbledon station in September. It called on Transport for London, the Mayor of London and the Government to fund modern signalling on the branch, where the existing equipment dates from the 1980s.
Fix the District says the service has suffered repeated signalling failures and disruption. Its own records show 47 days with a signal failure between 11 February and 12 October this year, which it describes as roughly one day in five. The campaign has also logged hundreds of other delays and disruptions.
The campaign’s online petition had attracted more than 2,600 signatures and is calling for funding for a full signalling upgrade rather than further short-term interventions.
Senior Conservatives including council leader Robert Morritt gave their support to the campaign
TfL has acknowledged the need to address reliability but has said it has no current plan or funding in its Business Plan or Capital Plan to replace the Wimbledon branch signalling which was omitted from a broader upgrade of the District line along with the Ealing branch. It has said the work will be assessed in the next financial year, beginning in April 2027.
TfL says it has also undertaken a £500,000 package of improvements on the branch. Ms Anderson told the demonstration that this had not resolved the problems experienced by passengers and argued that a more substantial investment was needed.
The MP said she had heard from constituents whose journeys to work had been affected by the unreliability of the service. She has also been pressing for action with the Mayor’s transport team.
Fleur Anderson at the demo said she was pressing the Mayor's transport team for action
The campaign’s organiser, Max Barber, said the aim was not simply to blame TfL, but to secure a more effective response to the longstanding problems. The campaign argues that a funded feasibility study would be an important next step towards identifying what work is required and how it could be delivered.
The branch was excluded from TfL’s wider signalling upgrade programme, in part because trains operated by South Western Railway also use the tracks and would need to be compatible with any new system.
The campaign is continuing to seek support for its petition and for a funded assessment of options for improving the line.
The petition is available here , with further information about the campaign on the Fix the District site.
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