Southeastern to lose high-speed franchise from September 2014?

Following the shambolic handling of the West Coast mainline franchise by the Department for Transport, the Southeastern franchise due to end in March 2014 has been formally extended by six months (such provision already existed in the current franchise agreement). After six months, continuation would depend on a series of direct awards by the Department for Transport.

The assumption is that these direct awards would be given to Southeastern however there is a serious political and economic issue over the franchise specification of high-speed services. The current peak extension to Deal & Sandwich is funded by Kent County Council until March 2014 which should have then allowed the new franchise specification to integrate all day services to Deal & Sandwich.

Due to the complexity of the current franchise specification all day services can only become profitable if they are integrated into the service agreement. The lack of basic working station facilities at Deal suggests Southeastern are unwilling to make any financial commitment without a guaranteed immediate profit return. The political and economic impact of shelving all day services to Deal and Sandwich however is a risky one and as such the Department for Transport may decide to award the high-speed continuation to another more accommodating train operating company.



Charles Horton, Managing Director of Southeastern "The extension to Deal and Sandwich had been funded by Kent County Council. Passenger numbers have increased and Southeastern has no indication that KCC intend withdrawing funding."


Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council "As service use grows the potential to extend it to provide a full timetable throughout the day will be a real possibility which will boost local business prospects still further."


James Conway, Department for Transport "We are talking about the High Speed services; the Classic services are fully funded. The HS extensions at peak have been a fantastic success story, and the government has to be honest about that"


Charles Horton, Managing Director of Southeastern "We're very active, and we recognise the benefits delivered by the Deal and Sandwich service. We'd like to talk to the DfT about how the services go forward in the direct award period, and whether they become integrated (in the franchise specification) or not."


Charlie Elphicke, MP for Dover & Deal "I thank the Secretary of State for Transport for being so open with the House about this matter. It is an issue not just about the cost to the public purse, but about the potential for franchises to be delayed. In my constituency in Deal, we want a hard-won commuting high-speed service to be made an all-day high-speed service."

We just want a fair commute and people to visit our town

The adage goes "you can't win the Dover constituency if you don't live in DEAL", amazingly the constituency is officially just called Dover even though the population trend would surmise it should be called DEAL and Dover.

One of the key fundamentals to a thriving town is its railway services and this is even more prevalent in a town like DEAL which has a very low job to working population ratio and an aspiring tourism industry. Charlie Elphicke Conservative MP for DEAL and Dover acknowledges this and has supported the campaign for a full highspeed rail service and has ambitions to make DEAL a high-speed town, but there may be trouble ahead.

The Southeastern franchise is up for renewal and Kent County Council and Trains4Deal want any new franchise which will start in 2014 to have a full highspeed rail service implemented for DEAL. However it is unclear whether Dover District Council support this. Their latest strategic transport priorities appear to only back the construction of an unwanted multi-storey car park at Dover Priory, presumably to force the district to drive into Dover and boost dwindling passenger numbers at Dover Priory. Many people in DEAL and Dover are increasingly questioning if Dover District Council led by Paul Watkins have the full confidence of the districts population.


Of course you could have the best rail service in the country, but if commuters can't afford to travel on it to work or if tourists can't afford to travel on it to boost tourism and the local economy it ceases to be an asset.

The government plan to raise rail fares from January next year by at least 6.2% and potentially as high as 11% on some routes. At a time when families are struggling to stay financially afloat this is pure madness. If anyone tries to fool you with the word 'investment' I suggest you take a look at the dilapidated station sign at DEAL which can no longer be read, the station clock which displays strange numbers or take a trip on the notorious mainline service. Some Kent Conservative MP's have spoken out strongly at the planned increases, surprisingly Charlie Elphicke has not.

If Labour had not have awarded Southeastern the franchise in the first place maybe some of these problems wouldn't exist. Certainly the blame for a lack of highspeed services to DEAL is entirely the last Labour Governments fault.

Clair Hawkins is the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for DEAL & Dover and has written to the Dover Express about unfair rail rises, a local girl with a lot of ambition is my initial impression of her.

The next general election will be a straight fight between the Conservatives and Labour. The 'must' win seat in the South East will be DEAL & Dover and rail services will be one of voters top issues.

Update 30th August 2012

Charlie Elphicke and Clair Hawkins have both reponded to this blog via twitter:

New late night highspeed service to Deal

At last nights 4th Kent Rail Summit it was announced that from September there will be a new late night highspeed service to Deal. The extra extended late night highspeed Southeastern service to Deal, Sandwich and Ramsgate will leave London St Pancras International at 23.12.


The extended, late night highspeed service from London St Pancras to Deal, will be welcomed by those working late or enjoying a night out in London.


Bryan Sweetland, Kent County Council Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste, who chaired the 4th Kent Rail Summit, at County Hall, Maidstone, said:


"The launch of late night high speed services to East Kent is great news for the area, providing a further boost to business. It will significantly benefit tourism, building on the tremendous success of the Turner Centre and resulting increase in visitor numbers."

Thanet fast-tracked over Dover District

On the 31st October 2011 the Government announced that East Kent (*Dover District, Thanet, Shepway and Canterbury) had been awarded a £40million Regional Growth Fund to drive new jobs and business growth in the wake of the Pfizer closure.

* You can now sign an e-petiton to change the name of Dover District.

The Task Force set up to mitigate Pfizer’s proposed exit from Sandwich met for the last time on 6th March 2012 and presented their last report.

The report states that the Regional Growth Fund has subsequently had £5million removed from it and now stands at £35million. The removed sum of £5million has been matched with a further £5million from Network Rail and will secure line speed enhancements from Ashford International to Ramsgate via Canterbury West to bring journey times to Thanet down to 60mins. This comes on top of the recent new signalling technology which has also been installed along this railway line.

This is good news for Thanet and will lay the foundations for a possible new Manston Parkway station.

However this will do nothing to improve transport links to Discovery Park (the Enterprise Zone which now encapsulates the Pfizer site). The Kent coast(Ashford) line between Folkestone and Ramsgate via Deal/Sandwich also requires urgent upgrading. This line still has semaphore signalling and line speed restrictions (the painfully slow speed restrictions between Folkestone and Dover Priory are legendary).

If we want East Kent Plc to become a reality then the Kent Coast line will also require upgrading and this needs to be done sooner rather than later. I am surprised this was not given priority considering improving rail services to Sandwich was identified as having a significant impact on the potential for Discovery Park in the 30 day report.

Platform 1 - new café for Deal station

Deal Station's new café "Platform 1" will open for business tomorrow 19th March 2012 from 05.30am.

Passenger numbers using the new Southeastern highspeed service connecting Deal to London St Pancras have significantly increased over recent months and this will be welcome news for early morning commuters and off peak passengers.

Deal station is now an excellent choice for commuters with the possibility of more HS1 services on the way, easy parking, plenty of empty seats when you board a train and a brand new café.

ADJUVATE ADVENAS



December 2012 timetable earmarked for more highspeed services to Deal & Sandwich

 

This morning at London St Pancras senior Southeastern managers were available to talk to their customers, they call it 'Meet the Manager'. I took the opportunity to talk to them about the new highspeed train service for Deal and Sandwich.

Firstly I wanted to know if they agreed with me that the service had been a success?

They agreed it had already exceeded their expectations. Furthermore they agreed there was evidence to suggest there is significant potential for increasing passenger numbers from tourism to Deal and Sandwich via highspeed services. A remarkable turnaround from a year ago when the idea of stopping highspeed trains at Deal was dismissed by Southeastern.

Obviously this lead me to ask will you increase highspeed services for Deal and Sandwich?

The offical stance is that there will be an internal review of all highspeed services after the Olympics and if possible they will increase the number of highspeed services to Deal and Sandwich in the December 2012 timetable. Again another big change of attitude but remember the new 2014 Integrated Kent Franchise is approaching fast and all day services to Deal and Sandwich is a key priority.

Southeastern HS1 timetable for Deal and Sandwich

DEAL

 

SANDWICH

 

Government must support HS1 momentum after Pfizer 30 day report

Following the announcement of Pfizer in February that it will exit its research and development facility at Sandwich, in East Kent, by the end of 2012, the Sandwich Economic Development Task Force delivered its 30 Day Report to Ministers on 15 March 2011.

http://tinyurl.com/5u55t5t

One of its key recommendations is for significant transport improvements focused on the enhancement of high speed rail. Line improvements to bring Thanet and Dover journey times to London under an hour, a new parkway station to support Manston and the Pfizer site and the extension of highspeed services to Deal and Sandwich as a priority.

Unsurprisingly the task force were told by venture capitalists that better transport links set an environment conducive to new business. Many people in East Kent have argued since its introduction the Southeastern highspeed network, which excludes a large majority of East Kent, has resulted in the economic cleansing of the area.

The line improvements and parkway station will require time before they can be accomplished but extending the existing highspeed service to Deal and Sandwich stations can be achieved immediately. Localised access to highspeed services at Deal and Sandwich will enable sustainable economic regeneration. With the addition of shuttle bus services offering direct connections from station to the Pfizer site, this would lay the transport environment foundations so desperately needed.

There are currently plans to extend highspeed services to Maidstone West starting from May when the new Southeastern highspeed timetable is released. Surprising as Southeastern and the Department of Transport have long argued the reason for not introducing highspeed services to Deal was because the existing franchise would not allow them.

http://tinyurl.com/6xo75ke

Now is the time for the Department of Transport to step up to the mark and also include Deal and Sandwich in the new May highspeed timetable. The cost of this initiative is negligible and would bring confidence and assurance to potential investors at the Pfizer site.  A step towards a real "Integrated Kent Franchise"...