Most rail travellers in Sussex would be hard pressed to identify the success on the Brighton line that Richard Bowker talks of (The Argus, June 25)

Whatever grand schemes he may boast of, the fact remains that all the traffic from a 60 mile-long stretch of Sussex coast has to be funnelled up this limited twin-track route.

It permanently operates at full or near capacity and is notorious for the slightest problem delaying or halting dozens of trains. Nothing he proposes will change this.

So it seems bizarre that he so breezily rejects the idea of restoring the Uckfield line as the London-South Coast link it was until 1969.

This would not only provide an alternative route to London from Brighton, Eastbourne, Lewes and Newhaven but also restore coastal services for Uckfield and Crowborough - something the Brighton line will never be able to do.

Even with its mixture of double/single track, the Uckfield line already operates a half-hourly train service - just like the Arun Valley and Hastings lines - that could easily be extended to the Sussex coast.

It's also odd that Mr Bowker seems to have forgotten his meeting with local MPs Des Turner, Norman Baker and Charles Hendry at which he promised to give the Lewes-Uckfield reopening "moral support".

Perhaps he should widen his horizons.

-Brian Hart, Campaign Director, Wealden Line Campaign, PO Box 645, Uckfield