Will a fast service between Ashford and Tonbridge ever be viable again?

[notadriver]

What I think they could do is alternate the half hourly service. Half of them would omit Marden, headcorn and pluckley.

 

[JonathanH]

What I think they could do is alternate the half hourly service. Half of them would omit Marden, headcorn and pluckley.

Right, but surely the point of stopping the trains half hourly at all of the stations is because it encourages use of the railway from those points more than an hourly service would. Why shouldn't these stations have a half hourly service?

 

[notadriver]

Well off peak those stations are quiet and missing them out could accelerate the service by 10 minutes.

 

[yorksrob]

Even when it was still the main line, I'm sure Headcorn used to have a half hourly service as the semi-fast used to stop there.

 

[notadriver]

No the semi fast ran fast from Ashford to Staplehurst and vice versa. There was a 465 operated semi fast that did call at headcorn to allow the aforementioned other semi fast to overtake.

 

[yorksrob]

No the semi fast ran fast from Ashford to Staplehurst and vice versa. There was a 465 operated semi fast that did call at headcorn to allow the aforementioned other semi fast to overtake.

Maybe it's from days before, but I recall a lot of train s with the stopping pattern:

Ashford
Headcorn
Staplehurst
Paddock Wood
Tonbridge

 

[notadriver]

Agreed. There were 4 services an hour. That one, the stopper. The one that did Ashford Staplehurst paddock wood and tonbridge and the fast one.

 

[TheJRB]

Maybe it's from days before, but I recall a lot of train s with the stopping pattern:

Ashford
Headcorn
Staplehurst
Paddock Wood
Tonbridge

Thanks to Archive.org I managed to find the last timetable prior to the major overhaul in December 2009.

Taking 11:00 - 12:00 from Charing Cross it looked like this:

11:00 calling at Waterloo East, London Bridge, Petts Wood, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Paddock Wood, Marden, Staplehurst, Headcorn, Pluckley and Ashford International (12:26).

11:23 calling at Waterloo East, Tonbridge, Paddock Wood, Staplehurst, and Ashford International (12:32). Front portion: Canterbury West, Sturry, Minster and Ramsgate (13:17). Rear portion: Westenhanger, Sandling, Folkestone West, Folkestone Central and Dover Priory (13:10).

11:30 calling at Waterloo East, London Bridge, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Paddock Wood, Staplehurst, Headcorn and Ashford International (12:50).

11:53 calling at Waterloo East, Tonbridge and Ashford International (12:53). Front portion: Canterbury West, Ramsgate, Dumpton Park, Broadstairs and Margate (13:51). Rear portion: Folkestone Central, Dover Priory, Martin Mill, Walmer, Deal, Sandwich and Ramsgate (14:02).

In the same hour, there was also an 11:14 from Cannon Street via Maidstone East which arrived at Ashford at 12:29.

Believe that was the same pattern for the rest of the off-peak.

 

[JonathanH]

Well off peak those stations are quiet and missing them out could accelerate the service by 10 minutes.

The whole point of having High Speed Lines is to allow smaller stations to have more services.

In another part of the country, when HS2 is built, we will presumably see more stops at Hemel Hempstead and Leighton Buzzard on the fast lines and that will enable more stops on the slow lines at places like Apsley, Kings Langley, Tring and Cheddington. This should increase demand at all of those stations. The principle is the same on the Kent line (although I concede that the current timetable is a bit unfair on people who want to travel from Tonbridge to Ashford).

 

[21C101]

Is there much freight from Ashford to Tonbridge?

 

[Antman]

Is there much freight from Ashford to Tonbridge?

I think most goes via Maidstone East, isn't there a limited clearance on the bridge at Sevenoaks station that precludes freight?

 

[LewFinnis]

The Ferry operators aren't really interested in foot passengers these days - P&O withdrew their bus service from Dover Priory to Eastern Docks earlier in the year. I rarely saw anyone on it - perhaps the £2 fare put people off. DFDS will not carry foot passengers and MyFerryLink don't make much effort.

 

[Bushy]

Having given up commuting on Friday after nearly 39 years, I was somewhat peeved by the increase in journey time on the classic route. I had used the Charing Cross then non-stop Waterloo East to Ashford, journey time 56 minutes. The best journey time now is about 75 minutes. The benefit / cost ratio using high speed did not work for me due to my place of work. I did occasionally use High Speed when I needed to travel on beyond London.
While I did consider the cost high, I get annoyed when I hear the complaints about people having to pay £ 5000. When I first started my salary was £ 1500 and an annual season ticket £ 500. I suspect that not many people pay 1/3 of their salary on their journey to work now.

Regards

Bushy

 

[Busaholic]

The Ferry operators aren't really interested in foot passengers these days - P&O withdrew their bus service from Dover Priory to Eastern Docks earlier in the year. I rarely saw anyone on it - perhaps the £2 fare put people off. DFDS will not carry foot passengers and MyFerryLink don't make much effort.

They may have to get interested again if they are to stay in business following the new EU regulations on ferry emissions starting in January, which wii increase their costs considerably. The hovercrafts used to do excellent day return foot passenger business for almost all the year, particularly to Boulogne, and Eurostar are not interested in this market and, even if they were, the fares and 'security' issues would probably put off the likeiy passengers. Any fares P&O etc get from such passengers would represent almost 100% profit with hardly any need for extra staff except possibly in cafes/bars which would be sources of additional proifit anyway. PROMOTION would be the key with a reasonable, non rip-off all-in-one fare.