On October 27 Southern Rail announced it was upgrading the electric charging points in its car parks in preparation for a wider roll-out across their network.
While Rye station is not on the list of stations with an electric charging point, 23 stations on the Southern network have had electric points installed with Ham Street being the closest to Rye by train.
For the past year, Southern has been monitoring the usage of the electric vehicle charging points at a selection of its busiest station car parks as part of its environmental strategy and commitment to sustainable travel. The data has shown consistent usage and the scheme has received positive customer feedback. Based on the feedback, Southern has agreed a deal with electric vehicle charging company, Pod Point, to upgrade its current stock of 48 units across the 23 stations on its network.
The project sees Southern support the growing number of motorists that are driving electronic vehicles with a quicker, free-to-use charging system. The points currently provide enough charge to power around 30 miles and each unit comes with twin sockets, which means two vehicles can be charged simultaneously.
This is the first phase of a wider roll-out for Southern Rail. The uptake of each charging unit will be closely monitored, with a view to extending the network to other car parks connected with the franchise in the future. Rye News has made an enquiry as to when they will be introduced in Rye. We will update you when more news comes in.
In a previous Rye News article we flagged up the fact that there are currently no electric charging points in Rye. Since since that article was published the UK government has announced it will be banning the use of petrol and diesel powered cars from 2040. Currently, the closest charging points to Rye are in Tenterden, Dungeness, New Romney, Hastings and Ham Street station. You can view the location of the closest electric charging point on the Zap Map.
Photo: library image
Image Credits: Kevin McCarthy .
Could they not use an electric battery train on the rails too. The non-bridged single track section between ham street and Rye could be electrified to charge it up, relatively inexpensivly. I think vivarail could sort something.