The Anonymous Widower

Kent On The Cusp Of Change – Highspeed To Hastings

The Kent On The Cusp Of Change article in the July 2017 Edition of Modern Railways talks about running Southeastern Highspeed services to Hastings.

In Options For High Speed To Hastings, I laid out the four possibilities of giving Hastings station a fast service in around a projected seventy minutes to St. Pancras.

1. Electrify Ashford To Hastings At 25 KVAC
2. Electrify Ashford To Hastings At 750 VDC
3. Use Class 802 electro-diesel trains
4. Use Class 395 Or Class 801 trains with batteries

I discounted the first two and the current Modern Railways article discounts the third, as there might be problems with diesel tanks in the tunnels under London.

So it looks like, it will be up to the engineers at Hitachi to come up with a train with enough battery power to go between Ashford International and Ore stations.

The article also says that there will be one train per hour (tph)  between London and Ashford, which will split and join automatically at Ashford, with one six-car section going to Hastings and the other reinforcing services to Dover.

I discuss the track layout changes needed at Ashford International in Track Improvements.

Onward To Eastbourne And Brighton

Some early reports about running Highspeed services to Hastings, also talked about running a better service along the South Coast to Eastbourne and possibly Brighton.

The Class 395 trains could turn-back further to the West, but this would require more expensive new Class 395 trains.

On the other hand, there are some 100 mph modern electric multiple units  like the Class 377 trains, that could provide a quality service from Hastings to Brighton. I also think it would be possible to arrange a cross-platform interchange at Hastings.

This would also get round the problem of the relationship between the two franchises, who each run one service.

I estimate that based on the seventy minutes Hastings to London time, I’ve read in various sources, the following times would be possible.

• Eastbourne to St. Pancras – One hour and forty-one minutes.
• Brighton to St. Pancras – Two hours and twenty-eight minutes.

These compare with a current Eastbourne to Victoria time of one hour and twenty-seven minutes.

Conclusion

This will happen, otherwise Amber Rudd will have someone’s guts for garters.

See Also

These are related posts.

• Abbey Wood Station
• Ashford Spurs
• Crossrail
• Elimination Of Slow Trains
• Fawkham Junction Link
• Highspeed Routes
• Historic Routes
• Longfield Station
• Maidstone
• Reading To Tonbridge
• Thameslink
• Thanet Parkway Station
• Track Improvements
• Ultimate Class 395 Train
• Victoria As A Highspeed Terminal

To know more read Kent On The Cusp Of Change in the July 2017 Edition of Modern Railways.

June 27, 2017 - Posted by AnonW | Travel | Class 395 Trains, Hastings, Kent, Kent On The Cusp Of Change, Southeastern Franchise