Eastbourne to Ashford trains reinstated

The strike, which caused cancellations to all 1066 country services, was suspended yesterday afternoon to allow talks between Southern and the RMT union.

The rail operator initially said today’s services would be the same as during the strike but trains for 1066 country were added this morning.

A Southern spokesman said: “We are running the strike timetable today, adding services in where we can.

“The Eastbourne to Ashford and Eastbourne to Ore services have been added since the beginning of the day.

“Our rationale is that we are attempting to provide a service where possible to those routes that did not have a service in the original strike timetable.

“Tomorrow, we will be returning to the temporary revised timetable which was in place before the strike.”

Southern promised to run 60 per cent of its limited schedule during the strike but 1066 country was in the 40 per cent cut.

There were no trains whatsoever from Ashford to Eastbourne during the strike with bus replacement service between Hastings and Ashford at peak times.

This left passengers across 1066 country with no trains and people in Bexhill relying solely on the Stagecoach buses.

MPs Amber Rudd and Huw Merriman welcomed the strike suspension and urged the parties to come to an agreement as commuters had ‘suffered enough’.

Campaigners blasted the ‘totally unacceptable’ strike and called on the government to take responsibility for resolving the dispute.

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