Govia Thameslink Railway has advised passengers that Rye railway station will close early on Saturday, November 9th, for public safety reasons.
The station will close from 3 pm ready for the Rye Bonfire that will take place in the evening.
The Bonfire Society has backed the move, which also sees Lewes, Glynde, Southease, Falmer and Cooksbridge stations close early on Tuesday 5th November.
Southern says that the train service to Rye cannot accommodate the number of people expected to visit the town, as well as neighbouring stations.
The operator says there is a very real risk that visitors would be stranded trying to get home as they would not be able to board the last train home.
“For reasons of public safety, Southern trains will, as usual, not be stopping trains at Rye station from 3pm on Saturday, 9 November, the day of the town bonfire celebrations.
“We’ve worked closely with community organisers and members of the local multi-agency Safety Advisory Group to help us come to this decision.
“Trains will run through Rye without stopping and online journey planners such as nationalrail.co.uk have been updated with this revised timetable. Please do consider your alternatives if you’re planning to travel that day.”
Head of Stations for Southern Rail, Stephen MacCallaugh
Responses
Can you imagine this on the London Underground? “Sorry but we expect the trains to be overcrowded each weekday morning from 07:30 to 09:30 so we will not be running trains during this period for safety reasons. Passengers should make alternative arrangements during this time.” Sorry Southern, but if you cannot handle running a public train service, hand over now to someone who can!
GOVIA . How running extra trains or Specials to provide a service for passengers going to these
events instead of turning business away.
I just read this with shock and despair, checking the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1. Railways are good at carrying lots of people with lower environmental impact. Run additional trains. Make sure that the trains that do run have the maximum number of units. This would have been known about months and months ago. Where was the contingency plan? Southern trains have decided to put more traffic on the road, with increased risk of accidents and injuries and a corresponding increase in carbon emissions. This is amongst the least sensible decisions I have ever heard.
How are you going to fit more trains onto that line? Where are you going to get the staff from?
Are they in the business of transporting people or aren’t they? Yes, let’s get people to understand they can’t rely on the trains, what a good business plan that is.
That’s what forward contingency planning is all about. Standard good business practice here. Clearly not happened.