Commuters this morning (Monday 5th September) at Deal station boarding the 06.56 Southeastern highspeed service to London St Pancras.
Monday, 5 September 2011
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Late Summer weekend getaway Deal
Once a naval stronghold. today the seaside town of Deal has a burgeoning café scene. The Evening Standard 7th September 2011
Starting from the second weekend in September until further notice, why not get away to the Kent coast for a special weekend. Travel highspeed direct to Deal from London St Pancras on Friday night (Depart 17.40pm or 18.40pm) and return back in the capital early Monday morning (Depart from Deal 05.56am, 06.24am or 06.56am).
Starting from the second weekend in September until further notice, why not get away to the Kent coast for a special weekend. Travel highspeed direct to Deal from London St Pancras on Friday night (Depart 17.40pm or 18.40pm) and return back in the capital early Monday morning (Depart from Deal 05.56am, 06.24am or 06.56am).
Stay in a world class B&B like Number One (Travellers Choice 2011 Top 10 B&B in the world), The Royal Hotel which was frequently visited by Lord Nelson or the renowned Dunkerleys Restaurant & Hotel.
Visit Deal Castle one of the finest Tudor artillery castles in England or the enchanting Walmer Castle & Gardens which was residence for the Duke of Wellington.
Sample the delights of The Black Douglas Coffee House (Telegraph Best British Cafe with view), the unique Dining Club, Middle Street Fish Bar (The Times Third best fish & chip shop in Britain), 81 Beach Street or The Court Yard Oyster Bar and Restaurant.
Bring your golf clubs as three of the top links courses in England are a stone throw away; Royal St George's, Royal Cinque Ports and Prince's. Don't forget your fishing rod in this mecca for anglers and what better spot than at the end of Deal pier the only new pier to have been built in Britain since the Second World War and it's 2009 RIBA Architect Awarded Cafe.
Browse the quaint boutiques and shops of the High Street (The Sugar Boy, Borough Wines, Poppy Belle) or leisure with Tides at their modern indoor swimming pool with wave machine and brand new tennis centre.
Fancy a traditional pint? The Berry (CAMRA Branch Pub of the Year 2011), The Kings Head (10th Best seaside Pub in England) or the extremely popular The Bohemian.
Blessed with glorious views across the English Channel the beaches of Deal, Walmer & Kingsdown are great for relaxing or offer a tranquil backdrop whilst exploring by foot / bicycle.
Saturday, 6 August 2011
National Rail publish highspeed timetable for Deal (5th Sep)
National Rail enquiries have been updated with the exact timetable specification for the new Deal to St Pancras Southeastern highspeed service.
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Highspeed train services for Deal and Sandwich to start a month early (September 5th)
The new Southeastern service will begin on September 5th - thanks to funding from Kent County Council. Services in the morning leave Sandwich at 05:50, 06:18 and 06:50, calling at Deal six minutes later.
In the evening there are two services to Deal and Sandwich, leaving St Pancras International at 17:40 and 18:40.
The new services will operate Monday to Friday and will take around 90 minutes.
Charlie Elphicke, MP for Dover and Deal said, "This marks the fulfilment of a key pledge to Deal. The service is vital to boosting the local economy. I am delighted that Southeastern has agreed to provide this service and KCC has been able to fund it. We need more jobs and money in Deal and the fast train stopping at Deal is a key part of that."
This is very welcome news that the service is to start early, however this does not complete the fulfilment of improved rail services to Deal and Sandwich. The population of Deal and Sandwich is larger than many Kent towns which already have all day highspeed services.
The economy of East Kent which has the lowest jobs to population ratio in the county needs a full highspeed service to encourage investment particularly into the Pfizer site and for tourism in Deal and Sandwich which is rapidly expanding.
A step in the right direction but not the end game.
Thursday, 21 July 2011
The Open Championship highspeed verdict
Following the incredibly successful completion of The Open, Southeastern has revealed that it carried 37,000 passengers to Sandwich to watch Darren Clarke win the claret jug.
This is a significant increase on the number who visited when The Open was last held at Royal St George’s when 30,000 came by train.
Vince Lucas, Southeastern service delivery director said, “We’re pleased with how smoothly The Open has been and our contribution in making the event a success. We were able to transport a large proportion of spectators and accommodate with the higher than expected numbers of people travelling. It is a testament to the hard work of local staff working together with other agencies in Kent. We hope many of those who came to Sandwich will take the opportunity to return to Kent, especially in the autumn when highspeed trains will begin operating from Deal and Sandwich on a permanent basis.”
I took the opportunity on the Friday morning of The Open to speak to some fans at St Pancras International station. They raised two issues which they were unhappy about, the first being that they felt Southeastern hadn't made it clear the service would make additional stops and not be direct to Sandwich.
The second point and this was also picked up by the national press was the walk from Sandwich station to Royal St George's. Many had expected a bus transfer service but Kent police prevented buses being laid on because of a lack of space around the station. This does raise the question did Southeastern management liaise with Kent police and if so why didn't they make an additional stop at Deal station where there is ample station space. Deal station was successfully used on each championship day as a coach transfer point for the Orient Express.
The new Southeastern highspeed commuter service for Deal & Sandwich will commence on the 3rd October, considering the huge additional profit gained from capitalising on The Open it seems unfair that any subsidy however small should be paid to Southeastern for the introduction of this new service.
I am also very concerned of reports that Southeastern plan more fare increases in January next year following on from this year's outrageous increases of 12.8% for East Kent. I hope Charlie Elphicke MP & Laura Sandys MP both stand up for East Kent against these potentially devastating fare increases to an area already under huge economic contraction.
The Open proved with a relatively small marketing budget that people enjoy visiting East Kent, perfectly summed up in the Telegraph as "party time for quaint corner of England as Sandwich and Deal welcome the golfing elite". The town's pubs, restaurants, hotels & attractions were in huge demand with many saying they were keen to return. The commercial viability of all day highspeed services to Deal are as valid as any other Kent coastal town and should be implemented as a priority.
Reference
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Deal to St Pancras in 70 minutes! (Stakeholder newsletter)
Southeastern have issued a franchise stakeholder newsletter dated June 2011 which states the new highspeed service from Deal to St Pancras will be approximately 70 minutes. This is quite a surprise as I had expected a journey time of 87 minutes and I am slightly baffled as how they can achieve this without a major timetable change. However as we have seen with the furore over their performance figures in the past, when it comes to maths they are always correct.
This is great news for Deal and a huge bonus for the town.
Another point of note is the new "delay-repay" compensation scheme to be introduced from July. Under "delay-repay", season ticket holders will be entitled to a refund of 50% of the portion of the fare for the journey if their overall journey is delayed by 30 minutes or more, and 100% of the single fare for delays of an hour or longer. Holders of daily and weekly tickets are already covered by the scheme.
The full newsletter is available here:
Southeastern-Stakeholder-Briefing-June-2011.pdf
Sunday, 15 May 2011
An 87 minute Deal for the commuter
From the 3rd October 2011 you will be able to travel at peak times direct from Deal train station to St Pancras International in 87 minutes using the Southeastern highspeed service. The huge diverse London job market will become a far easier commute for anyone wanting a career in the capital. Hopefully the following sections will be of use if you are considering commuting from Deal but if you have any other questions feel free to email hsdeal.blogspot@gmail.com or tweet @hsdeal on Twitter.
Fare prices
The cost of peak tickets valid on highspeed services from Deal are comparable to the other Kent stations included in this service, however it is still an expensive outlay and needs to be considered in relation to how much more you can earn working in the capital. Buying a season ticket will reduce the cost, an annual season ticket will give you the best saving followed by monthly then weekly. If you also require the use of the underground this can be included and you have the option of including travel within zones or for the best price to a specific underground station only.
National rail season ticket calculator
http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/seasonticket/search
http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/seasonticket/search
You may find that your employer pays for your season ticket or they will loan you the money for your season ticket and allow it to be paid back via salary sacrifice.
St Pancras International is set at the heart of Central London with more underground connections than any other London station. There are four main services from the station - Eurostar, East Midlands trains, Southeastern and First Capital Connect it also has free WiFi. Outside the station there our two Boris bike docking stations at Belgrove Street and St Chad's Street.
Commuting from Deal
The new morning service will start from Sandwich then call at Deal finding a seat should not be a problem and being able to just sit back and relax on the javelin trains can be quite appealing. The initial service will have 3 peak morning trains and 2* peak evening trains (*possibly 3) and will call at Dover Priory, Folkestone Central, Folkestone West, Ashford International, Stratford International and St Pancras International. A valid highspeed ticket is only required between Ashford International and St Pancras International, so if you commute only as far as Ashford you will be able to use the service with your normal peak ticket. If you use Twitter there is a #southeastern hashtag which commuters use to relay up to date service information and some of the lighter aspects of Kent's infamous train operator.
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