SCORES of Echo readers have been writing in to us to express their feelings over train company c2c's new timetable on the Shoeburyness to London Fenchurch Street line. 

Below, are some of the most recent letters. To have your letter printed, email echo.letters@nqe.com with your full name, road name and town.  

I THOUGHT I would provide feedback onmy experience of the new c2c timetable.

My main station is Laindon.

Before the recent changes to the timetable, I had access to trains that started from Laindon as well as trains that started further out and travelled through Laindon.

All the trains during peak hours were at least eight carriages. I always managed to obtain a seat for the 35-minute journey and it was a very rare occurrence that the trains were late.

Jump forward to Monday where I experienced my first day of the new timetable.

No longer do we have any trains starting from Laindon. I took the train at 8.43am which consisted of four carriages, half to a third of the coaches that ran on the previous timetable.

There were no seats available and the standing room on the train was at capacity by Upminster. The train then arrived about 12 minutes late.

I am a little confused. To my understanding, the changes to the timetable have been brought about due to the increase in passengers, yet c2c has decreased the size of the trains from eight and 12 carriages to four.

There may be a benefit to those further down the line, however from my experience, those in stations in the middle and later stages of the line from Shoeburyness to Fenchurch Street lose significantly.

I used to enjoy the journey into London and would rate c2c quite highly at eight or nine on its surveys and although I have only experienced one day and the delays may be resolved, if I was asked to carry out another survey, I would rate the service in its current incarnation at three – disappointing.

CRAIG PHIPPS Langdon Hills

...I AM unsure why everyone is so surprised by c2c’s latest timetable changes.

The company has long since lost interest in its customers from Southend, who are understandably the most worried about journey times, but who are a captive audience to c2c, so why should it care?

For the second day running, it took almost an hour to commute to London from Chalkwell on one of c2c’s so-called new “fast” services.

Since the old slam door trains were in use, when we were promised faster services for the future, there is about a 20 per cent increase in journey times as a result of a gradual creep and these latest timetable changes.

Once this latest furore dies down, watch c2c add “waiting time” back into the timetable, making journey times longer still and ensuring it maintains so-called good punctuality rates.

Very soon it will be quicker to travel in from Brighton.

PAUL CROOME Glen Road, Leigh

...I AM not a c2c commuter but my friends who are all bewail the new timetable. They seem unanimous in their condemnations, so will the operator heed their complaints and switch back to the old schedule?

JASON ROGERS Long Road, Canvey