Rail Conference

East Sussex County Council host a seminar in Eastbourne today (Friday) which may improve rail services for the town's commuters.

Representatives from Eastbourne Borough Council will support the Eastbourne Commuter Group at the conference in the Lawn Tennis Centre. One of the group's main concerns is that overcrowded trains and delays may cause commuters from the town to move elsewhere, to areas with better transport to London.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr David Tutt, will be attending the conference. He said, 'We have been promised fast trains for a number of years and have made numerous requests for at least one fast train per hour. This is an ideal time to be thinking about future rail services, as East Sussex will be well placed as a major destination for visitors during the Olympics in 2012. With both a large number of Eastbourne residents commuting to London and the economic importance for many businesses based here to be easily accessible from Gatwick and the Capital there is a strong case for improvements.'

Network Rail and the Independent Passenger Watchdog Passenger Focus Group will both be making presentations at today's conference, which aims primarily to discuss Network Rails utilisation strategy.

For information about the Eastbourne Commuter Group, see here.

(Photo: Richard Thomas, Wikipedia Creative Commons)