Sussex rail cuts dropped after backlash (From The Argus)
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Sussex rail cuts dropped after backlash
4:50pm Wednesday 17th March 2010 in
Passenger power has derailed plans to cut train services along the Sussex coast.
Rail company Southern has decided to scrap proposed changes which would have seen the end of the direct seven-day Brighton to Ashford International service after a campaign from pressure groups.
East Sussex Rail Alliance (ESRA), which represents passenger groups across the county, has welcomed the move.
The organisation had campaigned against the changes to the East Coastway line which would have forced disabled passengers to change at Hampden Park or face long connection times at Eastbourne.
Southern received 164 responses following the consultation and admitted that it could not prove the changes would make “a significant overall net benefit” to passengers.
Despite the news, ESRA criticised Southern's decision to use older trains - suburban Class 313 - on the Brighton to Lewes and Seaford service.
Many of the carriages, which do not have toilets or air-conditioning, will not be refurbished until later this year.
Comments(4)
Big Nasty
says...
10:48am Thu 18 Mar 10
Dave in Hastings wrote:Agree 100% it is also strange that as the government wants to get more people out of cars and cycle or use public transport the rail companies refuse to take cycles in the morning and evening when people need to get to work!, 1 of the staff that works for me used to cycle to the station his end and then from the station the other end to work and back 5 days a week, now because of the train companies attitude he has to drive to work, if you think how many people have had to do this and how many extra cars are on the road that needn't be the government ought to come down on these companies like a ton of bricks!!!!!, Oh and lower the fairs so it is cheaper than driving!.
I don't suppose for a minute that the representatives of Southern Rail read these blogs, but just in case they do...
What a shameful bunch you are - totally lacking in vision and only out to make a quick buck at the taxpayers and travelling publics expense.
What you (and local/national politicians) should be aiming for is an expansion of the rail network. Give us a truly world class service through to Ashford International. This would give a massive boost to the economies of the East Sussex coast.
The transport policies of successive governments in this country leave me totally exasperated. Pathetic is the main word that comes to mind. But then it is only to be expected in a country driven by tabloid headlines at the behest of the filthy stinking rich Murdoch's of this world.
davyboy
says...
12:45pm Thu 18 Mar 10
warden
says...
11:22pm Thu 18 Mar 10
The point about toilets and air-conditioning is that (a) the current stock has them, the replacement stock doesn't; (b) no, some people can't wait that long. Southern actually has a duty to provide facilities for disabled passengers, not withdraw them. Class 313 rolling-stock is also thirty years old and slower than the existing five-year-old stock.
ESRA provide a bit more detail at http://eastsussexrai
l.org.uk/campaign100
3.htm
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Dave in Hastings says...
9:12pm Wed 17 Mar 10
What a shameful bunch you are - totally lacking in vision and only out to make a quick buck at the taxpayers and travelling publics expense.
What you (and local/national politicians) should be aiming for is an expansion of the rail network. Give us a truly world class service through to Ashford International. This would give a massive boost to the economies of the East Sussex coast.
The transport policies of successive governments in this country leave me totally exasperated. Pathetic is the main word that comes to mind. But then it is only to be expected in a country driven by tabloid headlines at the behest of the filthy stinking rich Murdoch's of this world.