SUSSEX TRANSPORT PLAN GOING NOWHERE
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East Sussex County Council recently invited the Wealden Line Campaign to respond to ‘LTP4’ – their draft Local Transport Plan 2024-2050. We ignored it because nothing will sway them from doing what they intend anyway. Nevertheless, we looked at their ‘LTP4’ and our premonitory misgivings were soon confirmed. Because the draft contained a section entitled ‘Lewes to Uckfield rail link’ we wondered what it might say; in fact, thefollowing statement deliberately leaves no one any doubt about ESCC’s entrenched position on this important issue – viz:
‘Network Rail carried out a study to try and establish a case for the reinstatement of the Lewes to Uckfield rail link. No formal consultation process on the study was carried out. However, comments on the technical aspects of the study were invited until 19 September 2008.
The [ESCC] Central Rail Corridor Board received the final report of the Network Rail study in July. It concluded that: Although it is technically feasible. There is currently no economic case for rebuilding the Lewes to Uckfield rail line
So there we have it – don’t bother submitting any aspirations to re-opening this ludicrous gap in the South East’s rail network. Pertinently, ESCC’s legendary and well-honed obfuscation on this subject remains as hostile as ever. To begin with, it was not a Network Rail study, although it was deliberately dressed-up as such to facilitate the County Council’s ambition of achieving a ‘once-and-for-all’ decision on ensuring trains never again operated between the Sussex Coast and London over this palpably absurd 7-mile ‘missing link’. In truth, Network Rail’s involvement was confined to its admirably professional engineering investigation, comprising track and signalling diagrams. This embraced various options for either single or double track, plus electrification; their recommended proposal coming in at £143m.
At the outset, Network Rail’s laudable ambition for developing the route famously read: ‘If this scheme was to be taken forward then it could be seen as another building block in the development of the Lewes, Uckfield, Oxted and London corridor. Later developments could include shorter journey time, redoubling any single line sections, connecting into Tunbridge Wells and electrification.’ Despite this intellectual approach ...... read the full story in The News section on this website