2010 press releases

8th Mar: Decision to retain through service to Ashford welcomed

Through services from Brighton and Lewes to Ashford will be maintained, Southern announced today. The company had suggested recasting the timetable so that only a truncated service ran from Eastbourne, but this was strongly opposed by Lewes MP Norman Baker, who took the matter direct to Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis and in a meeting, helped persuade the Minister that the proposal should be rejected.

Norman, who is also the Lib Dem Shadow Transport Secretary, says: "This is a victory for common sense. My constituents, particularly those involved in business, value the direct link to Ashford and to Eurostar. It would have been very unfortunate, having just fought to have the direct Ashford-Brussels train reintroduced to the timetable, to have had the feeder service from Brighton cut.

"The onus is now on Southern to come up with ways of easing the overcrowding on the 2-car trains. I have put a number of ideas to the company's MD, Chris Burchell, and will be discussing these further when we meet again later month."

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