Confusion overdetails of highspeed rail link

Rye Town Council is committed to the proposed high speed rail link stopping at Rye.
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But there is still widespread confusion as to whether the proposals would see the Rye line being dual-tracked and whether the plans would see high speed trains stopping at Rye at all.

Rye county councillor Keith Glazier said he understood the line would be dual-tracked but Cllr Sam Souster said he had attended a recent meeting with Network Rail who had said that while the line would be electrified there were no plans for dual- tracking.

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Cllr Ian Potter said: “It will not reduce the journey time that much. If people think they are going to get a much better service then they are misguided.”

But John Howlett, speaking from the public gallery, accused Cllr Potter of talking “utter rubbish” and said: “The line will be electrified and we will get better trains running on it as well as later running services.”

Colonel Anthony Kimber said: “As far as the Rye Neighbourhood Plan goes there has been a lot of interest in and support for the high speed proposals.”

Cllr Michael Boyd said: “We do run the risk of creating another commuter town where it is not needed.

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“If people want to get to London earlier they can take an earlier train and save us all an awful lot of money.

“The proposals could divide the town and bring us a little bit closer to London.”

Deputy Mayor Cllr Jonathan Breeds said: “There seems to be a lot of contrary information. We need to know more.”

Councillors voted in favour of supporting the service stopping at Rye if the plans go ahead.

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Rye MP Amber Rudd is pushing for high speed trains to stop at Rye.

She said: “High-Speed rail is going to bring huge benefits to this constituency.

“We will be able to get to the Capital from Rye in under an hour.

“This new rail line has the potential to be transformative for the towns of Rye and Hastings.”

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