Offpeak services from Sevenoaks to Charing Cross have been virtually halved. Southeastern have sacrificed the xx29 and xx59 stops at Sevenoaks on services from Hastings in order to catch up time. Some early peak hour services will run a few minutes earlier too.
This is due to speed restrictions at Wadhurst after a landslip. This week this has been done by cancelling the stops on the day, and Southeastern have announced a revised timetable from Monday 13 January for services from Hastings. Southeastern have said that this is a temporary measure, but have not given any indication of how long the new timetable will last (they say that that is up to Network Rail).
The main change is that offpeak services from Hastings will not stop at Sevenoaks at xx29 and xx59 on Monday to Friday. Instead they will speed through Sevenoaks and Orpington with lots of empty seats “to catch up time”.
Because of the pattern of the other fast services from Tunbridge Wells and from Ashford, the maximum wait for an offpeak fast train has risen from 15 minutes to 25 minutes. What was nearly a turn-up-and-go service like the London Metro services has become something which requires more planning.
For Sevenoaks passengers the pattern will now be:
| Sevenoaks | Charing Cross | Notes |
| xx06 | xx57 | Slow train, overtaken |
| xx14 | xx49 | |
| xx19 | xx52 | |
| xx36 | xx27 | Slow train, overtaken |
| xx44 | xx19 | |
| xx49 | xx22 |
There are also small changes to the timing of early peak hour services – the 0630 to Charing Cross will now leave Sevenoaks at 0628 and the 0653 to Cannon Street will leave at 0652. Most peak-hour services from Hastings do not stop at Sevenoaks anyway.
It does not appear that any changes have been made to services from London. It is unclear whether the change applies at weekends.
SRTA have already written to Southeastern to complain about this change which disadvantages more Sevenoaks and Orpington travellers more severely than the advantage gained by a small number of Hastings passengers. We’ve also asked about some of the consequential details, for instance Delay-Repay compensation if one of the other trains does not run.
I saw the cancelled 17.59 go through Sevenoaks at 18.01 on Thursday night. Shameful.
From my point of view the most annoying thing about this is that one of the (temporarily) axed services is the 0929 which is the first offpeak train from Sevenoaks and the first on which non-folding bikes can be taken. We will now have to wait for the 0944, which, if it starts at Tunbridge Wells, may well not have proper bike storage.
@kirsty Unfortunately you may be right. The Tunbridge Wells services tend to be operated with the “Networker” suburban stock rather than the “Electrostar” long distance stock.
I think that in the Hastings area there is a wish for a faster service, so if they can run them non-stop now then they could do this more. Part of the problem is that stops at Sevenoaks and Orpington in the shoulder peak lead to overcrowding on Hastings Line services. Sevenoaks and Orpington have lots of other trains. The service on the Hastings Line has got so slow and sluggish that many people on the coast in Hastings and Bexhill have taken to travelling via Ashford and HS1 because it’s quicker and more reliable.
@Richard M Part of our point is that although there are other fast services from Sevenoaks they run in pairs 5 minutes apart, so not stopping the Hastings services leaves 25 minutes in between services.
Yes I can see that must be quite irksome… A longer term solution if the Hastings Line services were accelerated could be to re-time the Canterbury Wests so they are 15 mins apart from the Tunbridge Wells trains maintaining a quarter-hourly service.
The desire from Hastings line travellers for faster services is fully understandable. Unfortunately, even with a 15 minute clockface service for Sevenoaks, running Hastings trains fast between Tonbridge and London could well leave the remaining four services full and standing from Sevenoaks while the Hastings train rushes through with numerous empty seats. Some years ago the peak services from Ashford ran fast between Tonbridge and London with spare capacity. We calculated that each morning’s empty seats amounted to the equivalent of an empty 12 coach train passing Sevenoaks. I fear fast services between Tonbridge and London from the Hastings line may fall foul of the same problem.
The IKF timetable recast of Dec 2008 offered nothing to the Hastings Line (or the Maidstone Line for that matter). Whereas east and north Kent gained new high speed services (albeit at premium fares), and inner and outer suburban routes generally a quarter-hourly service or better, the line south of Tunbridge Wells was something of an afterthought, extending two rather sluggish outer-suburban ‘metro’ services. Frant, Wadhurst,Stonegate and Etchingham have haemorrhaged business to the Uckfield line which offers a similar level of service but with fares 40% cheaper. Many travellers from Hastings and Bexhill either use the Southern route (cheaper) or go via Ashford and HS1 (faster). The service is also unfit for purpose in generating contraflow inbound leisure and tourist traffic to the coast. It may be in the longer term with Marshlink electrification and upgrade that this becomes the main route (potentially offering a journey time Hastings – St Pancras of 68 mins, as opposed to 100 mins+ to Charing Cross. In the meantime, there is definitely a feeling that something must be done.
The answer to this might be to recast the timetable so that the two Canterbury Wests, one stopping Hastings, two Tunbridge Wells, offer a limited stop between to London Charing Cross every 12 minutes. This would offer us a turn and up go LOROL type service in contrast to the large gaps seen today between bunched fast services.