Hastings and Rye MP, Amber Rudd meets with Minister to state case for high speed rail services

Hastings and Rye MP, Amber Rudd pressed home her case for high speed rail services in 1066 Country at a meeting with a Government Minster last week.
By Richard Gladstone
Published 1st Mar 2019, 08:44 BST
Updated 1st Mar 2019, 09:45 BST
Amber is pictured with Andrew Jones, the Minister responsible for rail SUS-190225-114422001Amber is pictured with Andrew Jones, the Minister responsible for rail SUS-190225-114422001
Amber is pictured with Andrew Jones, the Minister responsible for rail SUS-190225-114422001

Rail times between London and Hastings could be dramatically cut to between 66 and 69 minutes, she said.

After the meeting with Andrew Jones MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport and the Minister responsible for rail, Ms Rudd said: “High speed journey times will bring our towns huge economic regeneration benefits and also many new opportunities for our residents.

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“I will be holding a high speed rail working group shortly, inviting all stakeholders to meet with Network Rail following their report to discuss the strategy for moving forwards.”

In November 2017, Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, committed to supporting the development of a proposed track layout at Ashford International which would allow trains from Hastings, Rye, Bexhill and Eastbourne to travel direct to London St Pancras.

The Department for Transport has been jointly funding the development work for the proposed track layout changes with local authorities, with works expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

More on this topic:

Date for implementation of high-speed trains in 1066 Country remains ‘unknown’.

The attractions of high speed rail.

Hastings MP promises to keep high speed rail link at the top of agenda as community rail group holds its AGM.

High speed rail for 1066 Country would be ‘game changer’.