Hastings campaigners question rail timetable shake-up plans

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) launched a consultation on Monday on possible changes to its timetable from December 2018 to tackle overcrowding and reduce journey times.

St Leonards and Hastings Rail Improvement (SHRIMP) spokesman Martin Woodfine said: “There are a number of propositions, which provide both positives and negatives, some ambiguity and an either/or conundrum.

“The 2018 timetable make look very different in timings rather than service-provision, so it is necessary to avoid direct comparison with the existing service pattern.”

Among the options listed is splitting the current Brighton-Ashford service into two separate services, with passengers having to change at either Eastbourne or Hastings.

An electric four-carriage train would service Brighton to either Eastbourne or Hastings, and the current diesel two-carriage trains would do the rest, which could increase journey times by nearly half an hour.

But SHRIMP believes this would not solve the overcrowding between Ore and Kent and is bemused by GTR’s insistence not to buy more diesel carriages.

“The consultation is very clear in that if users want to ease the overcrowding on the two-car diesels then they must accept a two-service option,” Mr Woodfine said.

“GTR continue to repeat that there are ‘no more diesels’, but this is untrue; they don’t want to procure them because the DfT will not fund the process, which is very different from them not being available.

“Is this really the way forward in the 21st century?”

GTR said splitting the service could help relieve overcrowding on the route because the section of line between Hastings and Ashford is not electrified and the service relies on a small fleet of two-carriage diesel trains, which are in short supply.

By substituting electric trains along part of the route, the company says more seats could be provided between Hastings and Brighton.

Another proposal is to have one peak train an hour from London Victoria continue past Eastbourne and to end the service at Hastings instead of Ore, with the possibility of Southeastern trains to Charing Cross extended to Ore.

SHRIMP said this is misleading as Southeastern may not be running the service then and so it cannot make any guarantees.

Mr Woodfine believes Hastings should be signposted as the destination for the service and bemoaned the lack of plans for the ‘time-consuming’ train-splitting at Haywards Heath.

“Neither are there any aspirations to achieve a substantial reduction in journey times between Bexhill and Polegate through improved infrastructure. Both are disappointing,” he said.

“The creation of this independent service will also create self-contained operations on the Ore to Brighton stopping service, whereas the Brighton and Victoria services currently inter-operate.

“This raises the possibility of lower standard class-313 units with no toilets or air-conditioning becoming increasingly used – or even the standard stock – on the service. We would consider that to be a retrograde step.”

Journey times to Brighton would be reduced by not stopping at Moulsecoomb or London Road (Brighton).

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