Rail upgrade plans shelved

UCKFIELD commuters were dealt a blow this week with the effective shelving of plans to electrify the local railway line.

The Strategic Rail Authority said that the costs involved in electrifying the Uckfield to Hurst Green line would amount to 'nine times the benefits'.

It is believed the project which was included as a commitment in the SRA's Strategic Plan in January has been shelved rather than dropped completely. However, the rail passenger's watchdog for the region this week reacted angrily to the news.

Wendy Toms, chairman of the Rail Passengers Committee for Southern England, said the project, together with electrification of the Ashford-Hastings line had been described as a 'primary aspiration' when the new South Central Franchise was signed in 2000, but was now on the back burner.

'We are bitterly disappointed,' she said. 'Just six months after the Strategic Rail Authority published its Strategic Plan for the next ten years, the authority has decided that two projects listed in that plan as commitments do not represent value for money for taxpayers. They say that the costs, estimated at a total of 153.4 million for both schemes at 2001 prices, amount to nine times the benefits.

'It seems to us remarkable that although almost two years ago the SRA announced these two long overdue electrification schemes as high priorities, it is now claiming that most of the benefits passengers want can be achieved through the use of new diesel trains on these routes.

'If the SRA can demonstrate to us how this can be done, my committee would be prepared to reconsider its present commitment to electrification and double-tracking but, so far, the case has certainly not been made.'

'What passengers want is newer, cleaner, more comfortable trains; more through trains, so that they don't have to change their deisel trains at Oxted on to electric trains as they currently do on most services and faster, more frequent services.

Comfort

'New diesel trains will certainly mean that passengers travel in greater comfort but it is hard to see how these trains will bring any other benefits. As long as these two stretches of track remain single-track and non-electrified, it won't be possible, for instance, to alternate fast services with the present slow, stopping services.'

Mrs Toms claimed that fewer drivers were qualified to drive diesel trains, which would lead to more delays for Uckfield passengers. 'These two lines are the only diesel trains left in Kent, Sussex and the London area,' she said. 'This is bound to reduce the pool of drivers available to operate train services between Oxted and Uckfield, which would inevitably make train cancellations more likely at times of driver shortages. It would also make it far less likely that passengers would get the increased train services that they want particularly in the evenings, when Uckfield services stop running absurdly early.'

However, she welcomed the news that the SRA would ask rail operators Govia to commission a feasibility study into the case for increasing capacity on the line by partial doubling of the track or by installing crossing loops, which would allow for two trains an hour to be operated.