Ashford, Staplehurst and Paddock Wood (according to the SE draft timetable) will see services to Charing Cross cut by half. Pluckley sees an increase (the mind boggles!) from 1 to 2 trains an hour. My local station sees the following changes:
Saturday service, direct to Charing Cross, cut from 2 to 1 train an hour. This has a seven minute wait at Ashford, before proceeding to call at all stations to Tonbridge, then Sevenoaks, London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross. Fastest journey time was 1hr 21mins; now 1hr 46mins. Sandwich, Deal, Walmer and Martin Mill lose out all together, with the service cut by half and no alternative.
Sunday service now has to attach to a service from Canterbury West at Ashford; I imagine this will lead to a reduction from 8 to 4 carriages for the section from Sandwich - Ashford via Dover, unless these services are going to run as 12 coaches from Ashford. Summer sees an influx of passengers; I boarded a Southern service to Brighton yesterday, formed of 4 x 377/3, every coach completely rammed. It makes you wonder how South Eastern will cope next summer, what with the service/carriage reduction. Will everybody immediately switch to High Speed and St Pancras? Hey, maybe they might make changes in the May timetable. Only time will tell!
