Don't hold your breath but there are serious proposals for the Lewes to Uckfield railway line to be reopened for the first time since it closed more than 30 years ago. They have been put forward by Connex South Central as part of its plans to get a new 20-year franchise.

While Connex is currently trying to be all things to all men and women, it is still welcome that a rail operator is for the first time talking about reopening old lines rather than trying to close them down. It would make sound practical sense as, for the sake of seven miles, a rail link to London was senselessly severed in the Sixties.

Since then, there has been a big growth of population in the area served by this line and it is also very much on the tourist beat. It would provide a public transport alternative to some not particularly good trunk roads and it would also provide relief to the Brighton line.

What's more, it would be electrified and would operate a far more frequent and faster service than in the leisurely days of steam.

Sixty years ago there was an immense network of railways in Sussex with hardly anyone being more than five miles from a station. It's tempting to imagine that in those halcyon days, a superb system of public transport was operating.

In fact, if you look at the timetables, you will see that often there were only half a dozen trains each way a day and they were painfully slow.

East Sussex County Council made the sensible decision to safeguard the route of the Lewes to Uckfield line in the hope that it could be reopened some time. It's a pity West Sussex did not take the same trouble with the Shoreham to Horsham route, which closed at about the same time.

I have little doubt that this could be revived as a viable service if only housing had not been built across several sections of the track bed.

In the Sixties, many people thought railways would not survive into the new millennium. In fact, after a sad and steady decline lasting into the Eighties, they have picked up enormously in the last decade. From Brighton at present there are more trains and more destinations than at any time I can remember.

Connex also has ambitious plans to upgrade the Arun Valley line, another route with huge potential. The company is also looking at upgrading the Ashford to Hastings line and running fast through-trains along the whole Sussex coast all the way to Portsmouth.

That would provide a good alternative to the A27 and A259 roads while also giving Sussex a proper public transport link to the Channel Tunnel. At present it's quicker to go to Waterloo for Eurostar rather than along to Ashford, which is ridiculous.

All this is exciting for rail travellers but regular commuters might say they would be more impressed if Connex was able to run a railway properly at the moment. It is true Connex has had more than its share of problems but one reason the rail giant has fought shy of investment is the ludicrously short franchise it was given in the first place.

I hold no brief for Connex and the potential rival bidders, Thameslink and South West Trains, who have probably operated a better service over the years since privatisation. But I would like to see assurances from them, not forthcoming so far, that if they were given the franchise they too would revive rather than merely run a railway.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.