Action group's disappointment at train operators decission

The decision came to light at a recent meeting held in London at the Department For Transport (DfT), Great Minster House.

Attending the meeting were representatives from the DfT, Southern Rail, Norman Baker MP, Bexhill Rail Action Group (BRAG), St Leonards and Hastings Rail Improvement Group (SHRIMP) and the East Coastway Commuter Group (ECCG).

The meeting came about after local commuters, and rail user groups, complained about short trains and long journey times to Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, during his visit to the area in September.

The rail user groups were disappointed that the meeting did not greatly produce the improvements to rail services that they were hoping for.

Speaking on behalf of SHRIMP and BRAG, Ray Chapman said:

"The meeting was disappointing, with lots of reasons offered as to why Southern cannot run more trains or accelerate journey times between London and stations on the East Coast. We don't doubt that it is difficult to run extra trains in the existing timetable, but we are of the view that the whole timetable needs to be re-examined."

He added: "In simple maths, the plan for next year is that there will continue to be four trains an hour exclusively to Gatwick Airport and a total of eight to Brighton. This leaves just two 'paths' for East and West Sussex combined, with trains attaching and dividing at Haywards Heath. This is inequitable, adds time, and leads to overcrowding."

Belinda Fordham of the ECCG said as the situation stands, city workers are being hit the hardest.

She said: We have had a most unsatisfactory situation in the evening rush-hour since last December when the timetable was recast. Departures from Victoria are now very uneven instead of running to a simple half-hourly schedule, and from London Bridge there are now two trains in the evening peak running at inconvenient times '“ one too early and another too late for city workers.

"The overall effect is overcrowding on lots of different services, and a situation where trains going to East Sussex are overloaded with people wanting to travel to West Sussex and visa versa. At Haywards Heath everybody has to swap over. On the busiest services of the day, it has been known for commuters to have to stand as far as Lewes or Polegate.

"We were promised some small changes to the stopping pattern of other services which could lessen overcrowding on Eastbourne and Hastings line trains, but overall the situation remains very unsatisfactory."

Other than a adding a few extra carriages on busy services at the beginning and end of the rush-hour, the DfT and Southern officials were unable to hold out any prospect of significant change this side of 2015 when the Thameslink project is due for completion.

Speaking on behalf of Southern, a representative said:

"We invest a lot of time talking to our stakeholders to explain the limitations that face us when changes to our train service provision are called for by our passengers, Rail user Groups and MPs.

"We do share the concerns of BRAG, ECCG and SHRIMP as we too would like add capacity to accommodate the still increasing numbers of passengers using our services. However, we are not able to deliver all of the solutions they suggest due to constraints placed upon us regarding rolling stock availability and the timetable as specified in our franchise.

"However, we do listen carefully to what our passengers and stakeholders have to say and where we can, we do make changes to satisfy these expectations."