An 82 mile diversion is necessary whenever the Brighton Line is inoperative south of Three Bridges. Alternatively, Rail Replacement Buses are required to transfer passengers between stations. The costs incurred by Network Rail and the train operators are significant, whilst the indirect loss to businesses and the public is never considered.

It doesn’t have to be like this.

It’s often claimed that the Uckfield Line could not be used because it remains unelectrified. But we divert the passengers not the trains - as happens regularly on London Underground and with the minimum of disruption. London-Brighton travellers could change at nearby Lewes onto direct Wealdenlink services (Newhaven-London) and be spared the extra 20 miles going via Littlehampton or the misery and inconvenience of buses.

Better still, if Network Rail electrifies the Lewes-Hurst Green section it would be possible to divert Coastway East electric trains directly onto Wealdenlink. If the Lewes Turnback is similarly incorporated then there would be no requirement for Brighton people even to change trains.

“I would like to add my support for your campaign to reopen the Wealden Line’s missing links.

My company is based in Brighton with offices in other countries, and arranges a lot of travel for its employees, making use of all London airports. This includes some travel at weekends when staff need to travel to or return from destinations. In updating some internal travel advisory documents and when talking to staff directly, I have suggested that staff avoid using the main Brighton to London line at weekends (and sometimes other occasions) due to the continual engineering works that cause regular havoc to services.

Especially for our staff travelling from our Bulgarian office and often arriving at Luton confused, they are faced with a headache having to detour via Littlehampton to get here. For these reasons we usually recommend the coach instead, although that isn't always a satisfactory option.

With the reopening of the Lewes - Uckfield link, benefits would certainly be felt further afield such as here, with passengers from the area having a less inconvenient alternative route to London and other destinations. I am sure that there would be a reasonable increase in the volume of passengers using the service on such occasions.”

Peter Gumbrell, Account Executive, Eurocash Corporation, Brighton

WEALDENLINK - Introducing more capacity and flexibility into the network

THE LEWES TURN-BACK SIDING

Capacity cannot be increased or the situation improved just by attempting to cram more trains onto the Brighton line. We must spread the load by reintroducing capacity currently awaiting development.

Improved signalling has a role, but as train operators know, whilst this always works perfectly in theory, it rarely does in practice. The more over-stretched a line is, the less reliable it becomes. With 12 trains an hour using a double track route, it takes only the slightest incident to cause chaos.

Only 1 train an hour goes to Uckfield off-peak and on Saturdays (and just 2 during the peak) whilst the Brighton Line is expected to meet all the heavy demand to the Sussex Coast.

Is it really the best use of resources having a railway which runs 46 miles from London but for a few miles of track is prevented from reaching the busy coastal towns?

At the moment the Oxted lines occupy 5-6 peak hour paths each way through East Croydon and 3 during the off-peak. With Lewes-Uckfield re-opened these trains could all have started from the coast - not just East Grinstead or Uckfield.

To fully unlock this capacity we need the Uckfield line extended to Hamsey (Lewes) and the 32 route miles between here and Hurst Green electrified. There is even the signalling at Oxted to join and split trains.

This would provide 3 extra paths each way between the South Coast and London during the day but, even better, as many as 6 at the peak. There is also the significant benefit of the extra destinations - plus all the flexibility of having another route to the coast which runs virtually parallel to the Brighton Main Line.

Short-formation trains between Uckfield and London use train paths through East Croydon which could be better utilized by much longer trains to and from the South Coast via Uckfield and Crowborough.

The Uckfield line and its short defunct sections are prime candidates for in-fill electrification in an otherwise surrounding electric network. It would be cost effective and immensely beneficial to the rail industry and the public.

Of course the key to unlocking all this capacity is the rebuilding of the short Lewes-Uckfield section.

Insufficient capacity is flattening growth on South East routes and having a serious impact on certain sections, most notoriously the Brighton Main Line. In the 2 hour period between 07:00 and 09:00 the Brighton Line has to accommodate 21 trains to London departing from Haywards Heath. Less than a fifth of this number are able to depart from Uckfield in the same period because sections of this route remain singled. In the evening peak 22 trains serve Haywards Heath and go on to south coast destinations. In contrast, only 4 trains can run to Uckfield in this same 2 hour evening peak period and nothing has been able to usefully continue on to the south coast since 1969.

The Uckfield line was prevented from fulfilling its intended role when the 1964 electrification scheme was scrapped. Today it cannot function properly because it is not only constrained by the insufficient size of the diesel fleet, but a restrictive single-line configuration with passing loops akin to a country branch rather than a London commuter line.

This constraint is further compounded because no trains can run up from the south coast to Uckfield. So all commuter trains have to first travel down (virtually empty) to begin their journey back to London. Rather than usefully carry passengers to destinations in both directions, the train operator is subjected to empty stock running.

The Tunbridge Wells line could accommodate more trains and therefore more passengers with the implementation of Wealdenlink. No one is suggesting we attempt running the same number of trains from Uckfield as Haywards Heath, but there are clearly huge opportunities going to waste for want of political vision. Wealdenlink is not wildly over-ambitious, but only about implementing what BR itself had originally intended doing between 1958 and 1964.

Now, even the DfT’s own Brighton Main Line Route Utilization Strategy notes that expansion is constrained by the south’s railways and says “the current capacity of the trains is acting as a deterrent for future growth”. At the same time, numerous consultants’ reports concluded even a decade ago that the various reinstatement of rail services along the Lewes-Tunbridge Wells-Oxted corridors would generate as many as 3,400 additional rail journeys per day.

Until these short links are back, we cannot run more trains and make better use of the existing railway network.

Thameslink expansion

The £3.5 billion expansion of the Thameslink network is due to start in 2008 and take seven years, allowing for a pause during the 2012 London Olympics.

Throughout the next decade it is anticipated to bring benefits to the capital and the regions shown on the map.

Network Rail will undertake major widening schemes at London Bridge and Blackfriars to increase capacity an reduce congestion at notorious pinch-points such as London’s Borough Market Junction.

Brighton is already on the Thameslink network, but as the map shows, it is intended to extend to destinations such as Dartford, Guildford, Ashford, East Grinstead, Horsham, Littlehampton and Eastbourne.

The Sussex destinations and particularly those on the South Coast will impose considerable additional pressure on the Brighton Main Line and such aspirations may ultimately depend on the availability of train paths. This is thought to be the case with Littlehampton and Eastbourne services feeding through Haywards Heath. This map has therefore been amended to demonstrate how the incorporation of Wealdenlink into the Thameslink programme is a natural and obvious partnership.

Instead of putting even more pressure on the Brighton Main Line south of Three Bridges, the blue line shows that by commissioning Wealdenlink within the next few years, it would enable Thameslink to reach Eastbourne by incorporating the growing corridor through East Sussex.

Of equal significance would be the opportunity to embrace the popular tourist centre of Royal Tunbridge Wells.

As well as greater flexibility, the possibilities to expand and improve the Thameslink network would be substantial, particularly in the off-peak periods which would be remunerative with destinations such as Tunbridge Wells.

Consideration might also be given to operating to Newhaven with its daily ferry services to France.

Because extra train paths on the Brighton Line will not be available and always at a premium, the value of Wealdenlink to provide this extra capacity can only increase with every year that passes.

It is clear that Wealdenlink, incorporated into the early stages of the Thameslink Expansion Programme, would be able to deliver the greatest amount of the much-needed rail capacity between London and the South Coast.

WEALDENLINK ENHANCES THAMESLINK