Somewhere in the future is a magical, streamlined commuter experience for passengers in the Rye and Hastings area but it’s not yet there, it needs a lot of cash to fund it – and not all of that money will be available from the government.
That was the message from Amber Rudd’s fourth annual rail summit, held on Friday October 6 at Sussex Coast College, Hastings in front of an invited audience of rail users and action groups.
The Javelin train service, cutting travelling times and improving rolling stock were all cited by rail users as concerns.
But no one on the platform could yet confirm who of the four contenders has won the Southeastern franchise; they couldn’t confirm that they had funding for the Javelin trains and they couldn’t announce any real improvement in commuter service.
The messages were mainly of suggesting proposed improvements, outlining future technological innovations and reassuring passengers that their MPs are still on side.
The Home Secretary was accompanied by Bexhill MP Huw Merriman and supported by Rail Minister Paul Maynard, making his first visit to Hastings. Representatives of the rail companies and local government also attended to give updates on current issues.
The hope is to have the high-speed link from Ashford through to Eastbourne in place by 2024, it was claimed, and Ray Chapman, chairman of East Sussex Rail Alliance thanked the two local MPs for their efforts to bring it about: “Amber Rudd is the first MP actively to take on rail and we have seen some massive improvement, particularly on the Hastings to Charing Cross route, securing a faster peak-time service,” he said.
Top of the agenda was the long-proposed high-speed link from Ashford through to Eastbourne. Ms Rudd and Mr Merriman have campaigned hard for it but it was clear that funding was the big issue.
Andrew Wood, who deals with commercial sponsorship for Network Rail said that although the high-speed line was feasible, there was a “low business case” for the “big bang” approach to getting it – in other words, building the whole project at once. “Third-party funding will be essential,” he said, which they were working to secure.
But he did suggest that there were options that could improve services for commuters before major works were feasible, and that the incremental approach was a better business model.
Belinda Fordham of the East Sussex Rail Alliance asked if any application for funding had been made to the European Union, specifically the Trans European Networks Fund, which was set up to promote a unified transport infrastructure, but she was told this had not been done.
In the immediate short term, the company will utilise works already planned for this year at Ashford station to alter the track layout to bring a future high-speed line nearer to the Marshlink platform.
And before any electrification of the line was considered, they would look at using bi-mode trains (that can run or electricity or diesel) already being planned for other areas in the UK and which could run to the coast without electrification, or possibly battery powered trains.
Huw Merriman said that despite industrial action by drivers, Southern had been able to get out 90 per cent of their services in recent strikes and wanted to send the message to passengers and potential investors that “it is very much business as usual”.
He said of his and Amber Rudd’s efforts to keep the railways issue in front of Parliament: “It was the baton you handed to us – all we did was try to take it over the finish line.”
He spoke of future improvements such as digital rail – where tight computer control of the gaps between trains on the tracks means that 30 per cent more services could be run without the need for electrification.
And he spoke of planned improvements to get good wifi signals on the trains, and automated compensation systems which would refund commuters for delays based on touching in and out of trains with swipe cards on on-train sensors, rather like Oyster cards.
Nick Brown, the Chief Operating Officer of GTR, which owns Southern, apologised for the delays that commuters have been experiencing, especially because of the as-yet-unresolved dispute with the rail unions of drivers operating doors – particularly frustrating for Rye passengers as none of the Marshlink trains will be able to operate that system.
He also said that the Thameslink programme and its ramifications were the key to unlocking the Southern timetable. Asked when the 2018 timetable could be expected, he said that the 10,000 responses to their survey had been a lot to get through, but that they should have results by the end of the year.
Paul Maynard, who is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Rail, Accessibility and HS2, said: “We realise the importance of faster journey times to Hastings, Bexhill and Rye, and the importance for growth and tourism.
“We are more than aware of the case for investment in rail services here. Your message has been heard.”
Amber Rudd said she was impatient to achieve faster rail services, but that there was a lot to do. “Any major changes to infrastructure involves planning over a number of years, so it is important that we continue to have annual rail summits like this.
“Rest assured that Huw and I will be driving this forward in parliament as well.”
Photo: Viv Watts
Comprehensive report from Viv. Some ‘matters arising’:
“no one on the platform could yet confirm who of the four contenders has won the Southeastern franchise” – there are now three short-listed bidders after Trenitalia withdrew, and the winner is not due to be announced by DfT until next August. Meanwhile the important next steps are DfT’s publication of the Invitation to Tender, which the Rail Minister confirmed is imminent, followed by the bidders submitting their Best and Final Offers for DfT assessment prior to next August’s announcement of the winning bid.
“they couldn’t announce any real improvement in commuter service” – an important detail they omitted to mention is coming next May when the new GTR/Southern timetable will reduce the MarshLink:HS1 connection times at Ashford to single-figure minutes, as already published in their most recent consultation material.
“the company [Network Rail] will utilise works already planned for this year at Ashford station to alter the track layout to bring a future high-speed line nearer to the Marshlink platform”- those works are not yet funded so many people from Rail Minister Paul Maynard to Network Rail’s South East Route Director John Halsall need lobbying to prioritise funding allocated for renewals to those works AND include the works to link HS1 with Ashford’s platform 2. Even before HS1 services come to East Sussex, MarshLink would then have step-free cross-platform interchange with HS1 Dover services re-routed away from platforms 5/6.
In other words, Southern Fail is about to get even worse. Brilliant.