It runs 46 miles from London but stops short of the South Coast network.

Incurs all the maintenance costs but without the benefit of more trains and thereby greater track access revenues.

Each track carries only one train an hour during the day and weekends.

Is limited to only 2 trains per track per peak hour, leaving the Brighton Line to take most of the strain.

Stagnates through a want of imagination, development and investment.

WEALDENLINK will succeed because ~

Lewes-Uckfield was closed - not by Dr. Beeching or for any economic reason - but to make way for a road.

Eridge-Tunbridge Wells closed to release land worth £4m and avoid a backlog of deferred maintenance.

Both were intrinsic parts of a busy and profitable network - and now serve an area of even greater population.

It is the best and only practical means of reducing over-capacity on the Brighton Main Line.

It is not a local re-opening scheme, but a major opportunity for transforming rail travel in the South East.

Overcrowding will not be solved by increasing the train fleet without expanding parts of the network.

It has the potential to significantly enhance the Thameslink Expansion Programme.

There exists an increasingly urgent need to enable more rail travel and discourage the continual rise in car usage.

In the political race for ‘green solutions’ its rewards are obvious, substantial and long-overdue.