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.

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

Kent rail action plan handed to transport minister

The Open 2011: party time for Sandwich and Deal

The Open 2011: photostream

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

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

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

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.

Transport for London
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/1106.aspx

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.

Useful Links

http://www.londonjobs.co.uk

http://www.justlondonjobs.co.uk

http://www.totaljobs.com/salary-checker/salary-calculator

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Deal.html

Deal goes highspeed in October

Tonight Wednesday 27 April 2011 at Kent County Council's 3rd Rail Summit it was announced that from October, Deal and Sandwich will gain inclusion into the Southeastern highspeed network.

Three morning services will stop at Deal at 05.56, 06.22 and 06.52 with three services stopping in the evening departing from St Pancras at 17.40, 18.40 and at one later time to be announced nearer to the launch.

This is fantastic news for Deal and long overdue, the campaign to get all day highspeed services and improved mainline services for Deal must continue.

The immediate challenge now will be to make sure Deal is ready and able to maximise the benefit to the local economy that highspeed services can deliver.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Conservative cllr Julie Rook for making sure that Deal had a voice in the KCC Rail Action Plan. Over the last few months I have given Deal & Dover MP Charlie Elphicke a hard time which I am unapologetic but as I wrote in a previous post this was a key issue for his constituents and it appears he has delivered.

Charlie Elphicke: Ministerial ambition threatened by Southeastern

May to September 2010
Cast your mind back to last May, one of the key marginal’s the Conservatives needed to gain in the election to have any chance of returning to power was DEAL & Dover. Tory newcomer Charlie Elphicke was victorious and by September had held talks with Southeastern and Network Rail to discuss bringing highspeed trains to Deal and Sandwich. He commented "I am very grateful to Network Rail and Southeastern trains for agreeing to review connections. And for providing me with costings so I can make our case to the Rail Minister. I do not want anyone to get their hopes up yet - this is going to take time. Yet I am cautiously optimistic."

November to December 2010
Just a few days after failing to attend the Rail Stakeholders Forum attended by Vince Lucas, service delivery director of Southeastern to argue for the highspeed extension for Deal. MP Charlie Elphicke told the Express he would not be indulging in "populist" bashing of the train operator over the "service failure" on December 1st.

He said: "Of course it's frustrating, but everyone knows that thankfully this doesn't happen all the time and we need to get it clear as soon as possible. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon, it's difficult for everyone."

January to February 2011
Maidstone and the Weald MP Helen Grant was not as forgiving to Southeastern over the service failure on December 1st which left Kent commuters abandoned and with no information. She arranged and attended meetings with Southeastern and Network rail to demand improved services and object to the extortionate fare increases imposed in the first week of January, 6.2% on average (12.7% for Deal).

March to April 2011
Maidstone and the Weald MP Helen Grant welcomed Southeastern's announcement of a new High Speed service from Maidstone West to St Pancras International, which is to come into service at the next timetable change on 22 May.

Recently Charlie Elphicke has stated that his "Peoples Port" proposal had taken up a significant amount of his time. The pinnacle of this proposal being the farcical referendum costing council tax payers £15K which was portrayed as The Big Society in motion for Dover District yet excluded Deal, Sandwich and the villages from a vote.

Residents in Deal will have also recently received their council tax demands from Dover District Council who have decided The Parish & town precept gross spend for 2011/12 is £805K for Dover and £376K for Deal, a huge financial imbalance as Deal has a higher population. My personal view is that Dover District Council can no longer be trusted with the best interests of Deal and on the 5th May council elections I will be marking my voting slip with "NO2DDC" (NO to Dover District Council).

The argument to the importance of Deal being included into the Southeastern highspeed network has already been won and is a key priority in the Pfizer Task force 30 day report. The recent Kent County Council rail action plan also states it as a key requirement of any new franchise award. But with an imminent announcement expected that Southeastern will stop highspeed services at Sandwich station during the July British Golf Open. The case for an immediate inclusion for Deal and Sandwich has never been stronger and rests with the Department of Transport. Our MP Charlie Elphicke is responsible for making the DfT see sense and as it is such a key issue for Deal it will be a decisive judgement on his ability from his constituents that put him in power.

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"...