Express back's MP's rail fare campaign

LEWES MP Norman Baker this week launched a campaign to secure big cuts in rail fares on south coast routes, and a five -point plan for major investment in the local rail network.

The MP is calling for cuts of up to 50 per cent in rail fares, with the biggest cuts for peak-hour travellers. The routes he has identified for cuts are Eastbourne-Polegate-Lewes and Seaford-Newhaven-Lewes.

Norman Baker says: In the rush hour, trains run on these routes with many empty seats while the parallel roads, the A27 and A26, are choc-a-bloc with cars. Yet all these towns have railway stations well situated and easily accessible, and travel by rail along these routes is much quicker than by car.

If you ask people why they go by car, nearly all of them say it is because the train is so expensive. A peak hour return between Polegate and Lewes is 6.50, and between Seaford and Lewes is 5.00. The cost of petrol over the same distance, which is how people compare prices, for the average car would be 2.40 and 2.00 respectively.

I believe such a scheme could persuade many people to transfer from road to rail and so relieve road congestion. That seems to me to be a better and much cheaper way of dealing with congestion along the A27 than spending over 100 million on a new dual carriageway between Lewes and Polegate. Let us at least try it.

I also believe such a scheme could actually be cost neutral. The trains which run into Lewes from Polegate and Seaford have considerable spare capacity. The operator is forced to run 12- car trains from Eastbourne because of the expected numbers getting on London-bound trains at Lewes and Haywards Heath. Yet Lewes is a major employment centre in its own right the County Council, the District Council, Sussex Police, the Health Authority, Sussex Ambulance Service, Lewes prison, English Nature and so on so why doesn t GoVia fill the empty seats it presently has on the way to Lewes with fare-paying passengers?

Mr Baker has also set out his five-point plan for a rail renaissance for our area. The points are:

l Reopening of the Lewes-Uckfield link

l Reinstatement of a direct link between Polegate and Pevensey

l Replacement of the existing three rundown stations at Newhaven with one brand new one, with proper car parking, and a strategy to get freight moving by rail again from the port

l Electrification of the Hastings-Ashford line

l New rolling stock and cleaner, safer stations

The Lewes MP says: I am calling on the new franchise holder, GoVia, the Strategic Rail Authority, and the government to work together to bring about these improvements. I am also making a formal submission to the government s ongoing South Coast multi-modal study. The demise of Railtrack gives us all an opportunity to make a fresh start with our railways. Passengers have for too long put up with creaking rolling stock, dirty trains, badly lit stations, and had to pay through the nose for it. It s time things changed.