In last week’s Rye News, MarshLink Action Group ( MLAG ) drew attention to the difficulty, during a sunny weekend, of fitting all of Rye’s train visitors onto two-car units, leaving many behind to wait for the next service an hour later. With two busy weekends coming up, we would like to advise you of some upcoming changes to the service.
Firstly, though, what about the rail service this week ? Well, the service has been very poor, with cancellations because of shortage of train crew and broken-down trains – in fact this morning (Thursday August 16) all three Rye Shuttles, coincidentally, were cancelled because of broken-down trains. So, again, the issue of the unreliability of the rolling stock raises more concerns – an issue MLAG has been pursuing for a very long time because without a reliable service, passengers won’t use the service. This matter will be taken up with Southern yet again at a forthcoming meeting But the breakdowns may not all be the responsibility of Southern – it seems that yesterday morning (Wednesday) a freight train found itself stuck near Ashford blocking and delaying the MarshLink services. We wait to hear more on this.
There have been two unsavoury matters reported in the past few days. Southern had one very good reason for declaring a service out of action caused by a shortage of crew when, on Monday, it was reported that an On Board Supervisor had been attacked and taken to hospital. We wish the OBS a speedy recovery and return to work on the MarshLink. In another incident a passenger’s suitcase was stolen from a train and the thief ran off , leaving the victim with little option but to continue her journey, somewhat lighter. More words on these incidents are futile.
But let’s revert to the forthcoming weekends:
1. This coming weekend, August 18 and 19 – reasonable weather forecast and the Eastbourne Airshow
With reasonably sunny weather in prospect we can probably expect a large number of tourists visiting Rye this weekend and so busy trains. But there is also the Eastbourne Airshow starting today (Thursday) through to Sunday. In discussion with Southern, they will be changing the services as follows over the weekend:
– Four-car diesel units will operate between Ashford and Hastings (not Eastbourne); and
– The electric Brighton to Eastbourne service will be extended to Hastings.
There are two issues to consider with return journeys. The concern for Rye visitors has to be that they may find themselves joining a train with a large number of people returning from the Airshow, so already fullish trains. Additionally, the train times on the MarshLink have been put back by four minutes meaning that the current six-minute connection time at Ashford is reduced to two minutes. National Rail is showing the connection is with the following train so the there is a wait at Ashford of about half an hour. We can only imagine the reason for this is to improve the connection at Hastings.
2. Bank Holiday weekend August 25-27 and Rye Jazz & Blues Festival
With an event such as the Rye Jazz Festival being scheduled on a bank holiday, this is sure to create transport problems. MLAG has asked Southern for four-car diesel trains to operate throughout the bank holiday and we wait to hear from them.
See also Commuters continue to suffer to suffer and Southern Rail have their say in this issue
Photo: Rye News library