I discovered rather late in the day that there will be no trains running between Ashford and Hastings on either of the May Bank Holiday weekends. There will be a replacement bus service but this adds at least thirty minutes to the journey and creates problems for visitors with luggage or push chairs etc. In my case it meant I had to cancel a planned lunch with friends in Eastbourne.
More generally, this closure will be a huge blow to retailers in our town who have of course only very recently reopened, and those who do travel will be much more densely packed in buses with higher risk of infection. It is not just an inconvenience, it is a public health hazard (even if the infection risk was no greater on the bus, the journey time is almost double, giving greater exposure).
It seems spectacularly ill-advised to carry out this routine maintenance on a line where the bank holidays are by far and away the busiest time, and in this of all years when huge numbers will want to head to the coast to celebrate Spring and warmer weather. The numbers of people travelling on trains is well down on pre pandemic levels and it may well be that the number of commuters will remain low as people continue to work at least part of the week from home. We and others want to promote the MarshLink as a tourist line to encourage more use, but it is difficult for MLAG and the local councils to do this if the line is to be regularly shut on busy weekends.
PRESS RELEASE – 24th April 2021
Two weekends of bus replacement services in prospect
The MarshLink Action Group (“MLAG”) has become aware that there will be no trains running between Ashford and Hastings this coming weekend, 24-25 April, or the following Bank Holiday weekend, 1-3 May – instead there will be a bus replacement service. This creates problems for visitors, especially those with luggage, push chairs, etc to the extent it is a disincentive to travel. Those who do travel will be much more densely packed in buses compared with when using our current 4-car trains and so there is also a public health consideration.
Inevitably, the number of visitors will be reduced along the whole of the MarshLink which will be a huge blow to retailers in our towns who have only recently reopened.
Southern and Network Rail advise us in a press release the reason for the closure over the Bank Holiday is for earthworks but it is not known whether this is routine or unscheduled, urgent work. From MLAG’s point of view, if this is scheduled, routine maintenance, the timing is unreasonable on a line where the bank holidays are by far the busiest times of the year: and of all years, when large numbers will want to head to the coast to celebrate Spring and warmer weather.
The number of people travelling on trains is well down on pre pandemic levels and this may have been the case over these two weekends too – we will not know. We and others want to promote the MarshLink as a tourist line to encourage more use, but it is difficult for MLAG and local Councils to do this if the line is to be regularly shut on busy weekends. We trust this will not be the case and will discuss further work schedules with Network Rail.
Stuart Harland
Chairman, MLAG