Picked up a leaflet they were handing out today...
Inside it says:
PANEL 1:
At Southern, we're always working to try and improve our service for you.
So when we heard that the new South West Trains franchise would not include a Basingstoke to Brighton service, we took up the challenge to fill the gap for our passengers.
Having listened closely to what passengers and stakeholders have to say about this situation, we're making some important changes to our services and timetables.
From 10th December 2007 we'll be introducing new West Coastway services, together with a revised timetable for Arun Valley. These changes will mean equivalent or significantly improved services for the majority of passengers.
Some passengers may find that a small number of services are not quite as frequent or convenient as before, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
We hope you find the information in this leaflet helpful.
Please let us know if you have any questions or need more advice on these new developments.
We're here to do everything we possibly can to help make your journey better. Because for us, there's only one view that really matters - yours.
Chris Burchell
Managing Director, Southern
PANEL 2:
What will these changes mean for you?
- New through service every hour Brighton-Southampton
- Faster
- Chichester-London Victoria, with most trains running non-stop between Barnham and Horsham (Off Peak every half-hour 92-97 minutes. Morning and evening train services improved)
- Portsmouth-Brighton
- Gatwick-Southampton, Swanwick, Fareham, Portsmouth, Havant & Emsworth
- More frequent
- Bognor Regis-London Victoria
- Littlehampton-London Victoria (both with 2 trains to London for most of the day)
- Chichester-Portsmouth and Southampton
- New services
- Littlehampton-Chichester and Portsmouth
- Portchester-Chichester and London Victoria
- More seats
- For busiest peak times. Extra trains arriving in Brighton between 8 and 9am
Below this is a route map of the East and West Coastway routes split up into service patterns with the stations marked by a symbol showing how many trains per hour.
Summary of what the map shows:
1 tph from each of Southampton Central and Portsmouth Harbour to London Victoria (fast Barnham-Horsham, with Soton ones calling at: Swanwick, Fareham, Portchester, and Cosham. Pompey ones calling at: Portsmouth & Southsea and Fratton. Both then calling at: Havant, Warblington, Emsworth, Southbourne, Bosham, Chichester, and Barnham);
1 tph from each of Southampton Central and Portsmouth Harbour to Brighton (with Sotons calling at: Swanwick, Fareham, and Cosham. Pompeys calling at: Portsmouth & Southsea and Fratton. After that the calling pattern becomes sketchy, each of the following stations receiving only 1tph on THIS route: Emsworth, Southbourne, Ford, Goring-by-Sea, Durrington-on-Sea; and presuming 2 tph West Worthing-Brighton then also: West Worthing will have 1 tph on the route and East Worthing, Fishersgate, and Aldrington 0 tph);
2 tph from Bognor Regis to London Victoria (slow Barnham-Horsham, with 1 tph stopping at Amberley and Christ's Hospital);
2 tph from Littlehampton to London Victoria (via Worthing, Hove, and Haywards Heath, with 1 tph stopping at Lancing and Portslade, and Littlehampton calling pattern as now along West Coastway);
1 tph from Portsmouth & Southsea to Littlehampton (calling all stations except Warblington, Bosham, and maybe Ford too - this isn't clear, see below);
2 tph from Bognor Regis to Littlehampton (calling all stations, although 1 tph may not call at Ford as this is shown to have 2 tph from this and the above 3 tph service).
East Coastway looks unchanged.
It looks like all London Victoria to Chichester trains are diverted to Bognor, and all Brighton to Littlehampton trains are diverted to Southampton.
The rest of the leaflet contains fare and timetable information
