Kent County Council: Rail Action Plan

There is much to commend in the Rail Action Plan, but I feel it has not considered a number of issues.

1. The line between Tonbridge and Orpington is being used almost to its full capacity at peak times.  What will happen when demand exceeds capacity?

2. There is no mention of the problems of connections to major regional hubs outside Kent (except for London).  Services to Brighton are poor as are services to Croydon.

3. Poor north/south services within Kent.

The first issue above is the elephant in the room.  Whilst the high speed route from Ashford has taken some of the pressure off the Tonbridge-Orpington route, traffic growth from points west of Ashford will soon take up the slack.  It has been suggested (not in the Plan) that the line between Tunbridge Wells West Station and the Uckfield-Croydon line be re-opened to provide a Tunbridge Wells to London Bridge or Victoria service.  The problem is that the London-Brighton route is almost at full capacity, so this would involve merely transferring the problem rather than resolving it.

Issue 2 could be resolved by re-opening the Uckfield-Lewes line as far as links with Brighton are concerned.

Issue 3: The hourly service between Maidstone West and Paddock Wood acts as a disincentive to travel.  A line has to have a half-hourly service to be attractive. A service should be put on to connect with the proposed Ashford-Gatwick service. This latter service would double the current timetable on the Redhill-Tonbridge route and make it more attractive for passengers wishing to travel to Croydon via Redhill.