It's not the 'South Coastway', it's two very distinct routes - the 'East Coastway' and 'West Coastway', split at Brighton. It is not possible to get a through train from East to West (there is only one connection and it involves a train no more than 4-cars long reversing in Platform 3 at Brighton). The East Coastway is an interesting one because of the dive into Eastbourne and back, with only 2 intermediate stations (Glynde and Berwick) between Polegate and Lewes so it isn't really in need of more infrastructure. What the EC really needs is some platform lengthening to allow 8-cars on the Brighton-Eastbourne route without SDO (12-car platforms would be nice but the cost increases signficantly for them at Lewes).
The West Coastway, on the other hand, very much could do with some 4-track however the stations are very closely packed, there are frequent Level crossings and houses back very close up to the boundary. The cost of just acquiring sufficient land to quad-track Lancing to Worthing (or something in that area) would be horrendous. So the issue is where else you can pass - Barnham has 1 loop, and you can send trains to Littlehampton to terminate but other than that you are very limited in options.
How would they plan to overcome the 10mph crawl through Lewes?
Or the treacherous curves near St Denys and Woolston?
Not sure how you are going to lengthen the platforms at Lewes, for 12 car coach on the platforms used by East Coastway trains, when they can only just about take 8 car trains. Although, Lewes is not mentioned as a stop, even though it is the county town of East Sussex and I am sure that should the ESCC where to give agreement to a high speed link being built, it would have to stop and go through Lewes.
I would be interested to what path they would be using for the high speed rail link, I am presuming that the trains would not be going on existing tracks in any form.
The article, is totally incorrect on one of the routing's to Brighton when it states the following:
"Currently, rail passengers from Thanet wanting to travel to Brighton have two options; either head into London and catch a direct route down to the East Sussex city, or travel to Ashford, change, and then head to Hastings. Another change at Hastings then takes you down to Brighton. Onward travel there, west, along the south coast is also fractured or requires a trip to London first, and then a service down from the capital to eventually reach Bournemouth."
You don't have to change again at Hastings, as the service from Ashford goes to Eastbourne and you can change there for a service to Brighton.
I think someone must have been intoxicated when making this as it would need to:
1. Reverse at Ashford or build a chord but there are houses in the way
2. Electrify Marshlink and then find paths along with the Southern stoppers and the HS1 extension that would probably happen if electrified
3. Build an Eastbourne chord which could be possible
4. Build a Brighton chord (Very tricky) or use the 1 platform accessible from both Eastbourne and Hove sides (Platform 3)
5. Either lose lots of Portsmouth traffic for the sake of speed and not reversing or branch off / terminate and Portsmouth & Ssea / Harbour
I would have to agree with you
@Trainguy34. For the high speed link, you would have to be building a new station for Eastbourne as there is no space to have a new line coming into Eastbourne station from the East without knocking down a whole lot of properties. Not sure anyone would want to be doing that after what has gone on with HS2.
I cannot see that there is really that much demand for people to travel from Ramsgate to Bournemouth, so I am suspecting it is down to someone within East Sussex Rail Alliance having relatives in both Ramsgate and Bournemouth?
The services from Bournemouth to London Victoria, where cut as there was not much patronage between Bournemouth and Southampton on the service. More people got on at Southampton than either Bournemouth or Brockenhurst.
Although the best pie in the sky for me, is about the town of Peacehaven where I grew up and the entrenpreneur Charles Neville who designed the long straight roads in Peacehaven to be Canadian/American style stating back in about in about 1927, "Peacehaven as a town would be on the national rail network by the end of the 1930's".
