MP's points rail firm in Bexhill's direction

BEXHILL'S MP Greg Barker has urged Southern railway's managing director Chris Burchell not to marginalise the town - or other stations between Eastbourne and Hastings - in favour of Brighton commuters.

Discussing future rail plans with Mr Burchell, the MP expressed concern about the impact of Southern’s plans for an additional service to Brighton.

The proposals were turned down by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) on grounds of an already tight timetable - one late train can cause chaos across the whole network - and Mr Barker agreed they could harm services via Bexhill.

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On behalf of Bexhill Rail Action Group (BRAG) Mr Barker asked Mr Burchell for further ‘passenger load’ figures to clarify just how crowded East Coastway trains are in comparison to those from Brighton.

Mr Barker said: “Despite Southern making some improvements on peak trains, like adding more carriages, there is still a real problem with the journey times from Bexhill to London.

“Fundamentally the franchise, put together by the last Labour government, was too rigid and has simply not given enough priority to East Coastway rail users. The new Coalition has pledged to make franchises more flexible and passenger-focused.”

He added: “I shall be leading a campaign to ensure that the next franchise takes into account the needs of hard-working Bexhill commuters, who despite living only 60 miles from London, are spending up to 4.5 hours commuting each day.”

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BRAG spokesman Richard Madge said: “We acknowledge that there are capacity issues on the Brighton main line, but this is not the full story.

“Competition for revenue between Southern and rivals First Capital Connect between London and Brighton has led to both progressively adding extra services on the main line, leaving little room for Southern to introduce significant service improvements elsewhere in East and West Sussex.

“BRAG’s investigations over a long period indicate that there is both un-met demand from the East Coastway, and the potential capacity to introduce improvements should these be prioritised.

“We shall continue to press the rail authorities to improve services, and look forward to further detailed discussions in the near future.”