Rye railway station to close from 3pm on Saturday due to bonfire celebrations

The closure comes four days after similar closures at Lewes and four surrounding stations on Tuesday 5 November.

The train company says that for reasons of public safety, Rye railway station will be closed from 3pm on the day of the Rye Bonfire (Saturday, 9 November) until the start of service the next day, Sunday.

The change once again has the backing of the Bonfire Society, which says it will prevent anti-social behaviour from youths travelling in from out of town.

Govia says Southern’s train service cannot accommodate the number of people expected to visit the town. As well as long queues at neighbouring stations, there would be a very real risk that visitors would be stranded trying to get home because they would not be able to board the last train home.

As with many other bonfire activities across the region, the advice is for people to attend their local events rather than travelling far afield.

Head of Stations for Southern Rail, Stephen MacCallaugh, said: “For reasons of public safety, Southern trains will, as usual, not be stopping trains at Rye station from 3pm on Saturday, 9 November, the day of the town bonfire celebrations.

“We’ve worked closely with community organisers and members of the local multi-agency Safety Advisory Group to help us come to this decision.

“Trains will run through Rye without stopping and online journey planners such as nationalrail.co.uk have been updated with this revised timetable. Please do consider your alternatives if you’re planning to travel that day.”

James Foster, Chair of Rye Bonfire Society, said: “We want to keep our event safe, family friendly and enjoyable which is why we fully support the closure of Rye station, as we have in previous years.”

The Rye multi-agency Safety Advisory Group is formed of representatives of Rother District Council, the emergency services and emergency planning.

On Saturday November 9, all streets on the processional route in Rye town centre will be closed to traffic from approximately 6pm – 10pm. The main trunk route will be closed from 7pm – 10pm.

Please note that there is no parking on the processional route from approximately 4pm.

From 4pm, vehicular access to the town will be severely restricted and all vehicles are cleared from the processional route. Any vehicles on the procession route will be removed by recovery trucks.

The bonfire procession sets off from Tilling Green at 7pm and makes its way through the streets of the town to the Salts where a large bonfire will be lit and a fireworks display will take place.

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