(13/7/2010)
Welcome to our Quarter Two Newsletter, again our voluntary team have been busy working in partnership with East Sussex County Council, Amber Rudd MP, Hastings Borough Council, South Eastern Trains and Southern Trains to drive forward better, faster and value for money rail transport solutions to Hastings and St Leonards.
In the last Quarter SHRIMP has worked with Southern and South Eastern Trains stakeholder boards to deliver more capacity into the network and more rail solutions focusing on "faster" and "cheaper" these include:
Faster Journeys
South Eastern Trains operators of High Speed One has been operating for over 6 months, and with the recent timetable change, Hastings and St Leonards Early Bird Travellers to London can depart St Leonards Warrior Square 0512/Hastings 0521 and Ore 0523 and be in London Docklands by 0644 and St Pancras International by 0653 by changing at Ashford International. This is earlier than the conventional routes through London Charing Cross and Cannon Street. In addition if travelling onto Birmingham, Norwich, Ipswich, Manchester or the NE and Scotland, better and faster connections can be achieved using the high speed link.
Also there are great connections throughout the peak hours from St Leonards and Hastings through to London Docklands (Stratford International) and St Pancras International; most Marshlink trains from St Leonards and Hastings offer between a 6 and 10 minute connection onto High Speed at Ashford International. Plus there is also a lift service available at Ashford International to make the connection more seamless.
Meanwhile, following pressure from SHRIMP/ESRA and politicians, Southern Trains continue to increase capacity on their London Bridge and Victoria services as well services into Brighton along the Eastern end of the East Coastway, thus relieving capacity on the Ashford to Brighton services
Cheaper Fares
Southern Trains are offering an amazing £2 fare to London Victoria if booking in advance from Hastings stations using the super group initiative, and it is now possible to buy a ticket with Southern Trains to a multitude of further afield destinations; a good example of this is Hastings to Birmingham for just £8
Booking an advance can now save you 25% if booking on line with Southern Trains.
Further money saving offers are now available from South Eastern Trains with their two for one offers to leading London Attractions.
Did You Know??
When designing a timetable Train operating companies have to apply for paths for trains on the network around 18 months before they can come to fruition. So changes, even good ones, are gradual. This is why campaigns need to targeted years ahead of anticipated fruition dates.
South Eastern Trains on the Hastings to Charing Cross / Cannon Street Route traverse some of the busiest rail junctions on the network, hence extended journey times to ensure safety is paramount and the best timekeeping can be achieved for the route. After many representations, South Eastern Trains have improved customer satisfaction by 5% to 81% - the highest it has ever experienced with 8 out of 10 passengers are happy with the service given by the operator.
Our MP Amber Rudd continues to show full commitment with making improved transport connections as a priority. The lead member for transport in the East Sussex County Council is also meeting with Train Operating Companies and Network Rail to look at methods of tweeking the timetables etc to further improve journey times.
Hastings is one of the only Coastal towns to have a direct service to the nucleus of London eg Charing Cross for Theatreland and Soho; in addition to this Hastings is connected directly to London Waterloo, London Bridge, London Victoria, London Cannon Street, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport and via Ashford International to London Docklands (Stratford International), Thames Gateway (Ebbsfleet International), Paris, Lille and Brussels. Not many towns outside London can boast such accolade of journey opportunities by rail.
The options are there so please use them so we do not lose them.
What SHRIMP will be doing over the next quarter:
Our primary objectives will be to campaign for more improved rail services, better connections, value for money and faster journey times.
Our more specific next actions are as follows:
- SHRIMP have recently drawn attention to a pedestrian crossing safety issue in Station approach. As a result of this, a meeting with SET (and hopefully Network Rail and other interested parties) will take place in late July. Keep an eye on our site for developments.
- SHRIMP will continue to work with the East Sussex Rail Alliance (ESRA) and RailFuture to campaign for more seats on trains between Brighton and Hastings to address overcrowding
- SHRIMP have received an encouraging communication from the Minister of Transport (Theresa Villiers) championed by Amber Rudd MP to maintain direct services through to Cannon Street. We will continue to make representations to ensure the four London mainline termini routes and best connections through Ashford International / High Speed One are maintained and improved further for the town
- SHRIMP, working with Amber Rudd MP, Councillor Mathew Lock of East Sussex County Council, Hastings Borough Council, Rother District Council, and the Local Enterprise Boards will continue to make representations to improve service times on the Hastings to Charing Cross service as a priority.
We need more volunteers and sponsorship to assist us with our campaign, so if you can spare a few hours a month please let us know we would be keen to welcome you on board to help meet our objectives.
We can also help with helpful hints and tips - just today we had a member wishing to travel from Hastings to Penzance without traversing London as they had a small dog. The ticket office was unable to assist however we found two options one via the coast through Southampton Central or through Gatwick Airport. We will be raising with South Eastern why the ticket office was unable to find this solution, and try to work with them to improve their customer liaison.
In conclusion: much achieved, much more to work for. Keep up to date and Follow us on Twitter -: 1066ShrimpRail and also now live updates through Facebook and through our website www.1066ShrimpRail.org.uk.
See you towards the end of summer. In the meantime Happy Travelling! And whatever you do, don't complain about the wrong kind of heat!
SHRIMP - St Leonards & Hastings Rail Improvement Programme