Whilst I do not want stations to be closing, if the stations like say Newhaven Harbour station are no longer serving their purpose and is not getting the passenger footfall to sustain it, then it is likely that it will close. Given what the country and the world for that matter has gone through the last twelve months or more, you have to be realistic.
I’m tempted to suggest closing the Ardrossan Harbour branch altogether. Give Largs 2tph, costing no extra units. Extra mile walk from South Beach to Harbour is probably ok, if not a shuttle bus is still cheaper than keeping a stretch of line open that ought not to be imo
I thought that the long (electrified) single track section meant that you couldn't do this, without significant investment in loop/wires/platforms.
Newhaven Harbour serves the community around the port gates as well as the much more limited demand for the industrial units and port offices itself. As it's at the end of the single line section, linespeed is below 20mph anyway (and won't be raised within a lifetime) and the legal costs of closing the station will be many, many times the cost of maintaining the station in it's current state, I can't see anybody going to the effort of closing it. Marine was only closed so they could turn it into an aggregates terminal, and I'd be willing to bet that only happened because they needed to end the legal right of access as part of the risk assessment and security arrangements for the port.
An "extra mile walk" may seem OK to you, but it is a LONG way for older / less fit people, especially if carrying luggage. And no fun if it is raining.
Hence my shuttle bus suggestion
Somehow, I doubt you got ”abuse” for it.
But it is also because the ferry terminal got moved as well, which way back when Newhaven harbour station harbour was built was the main purpose for it. Whilst I agree with your comment about serving the community around the port gates, especially with the fact that the area is possibly going to see regeneration within the next 5 to 10 years, I cannot see it remaining open because it only seems to be served at rush periods, even though there is at least two trains per hour through the day, With the exception of 12:41 arrival from Brighton, which terminates at Newhaven Harbour and travels back to Brighton as the 12:50 service.
I believe that the Up Freight Line would need electrified and upgraded to passenger standards to allow a regular 2tph Largs service though I don't know if cancelling the Ardrossan Harbour and sending it to Largs instead is viable without the UFL being upgraded. Presently services pass roughly at Saltcoats.
Marine stopped being served in something like 2008, the Ferry terminal moved long before that. Marine was only shut to passengers because the building was falling apart after years of no maintenance.
NR and FOCs are actively looking at introducing additional aggregates paths. However, I agree with you that Southern trains should stop at least once per hour. I thought in the normal timetable pre-covid they did?
The station serves the people who live there travelling to Brighton, Lewes and London. Newhaven Harbour was getting c.50k annual passengers a year pre-covid. Not massive, but still people who would be disadvantaged. Given the advantages of closing the station are next to none (you save yourself 30 seconds runtime to a dead-end branch, and the cost of upkeep of 2 platforms and a ticket machine) why encounter the disadvantages of the closure procedure?
I have not been able to find any timetables online pre - covid that show Southern stopping at Newhaven Harbour. I know that they did back in about 2009/2010, as I got on a train from there to travel back up to Martins Heron where I was living at the time, having visited my parents over the weekend who live in nearby Peacehaven. (Please don't get me started on the fact that Peacehaven should have a railway station!).
I'm pretty sure that in Dec19 it was at least hourly and possibly half-hourly. Peacehaven having a train station is an interesting idea, the gradients would see enthusiasts coming from all over to ride it!
If you were deciding whether to build a new station at the site of the current Harbour, you wouldn't. However because the station is there I highly doubt it will close unless the situation you describe below happens.
I highly doubt that they will. Especially as the Aggregates terminal has just opened, so you would need to take out more of the beach, possibly even build a new East Breakwater. For a ferry that only survives because the french pour a huge subsidy into it for the employment at Dieppe. Do you have a link to the plan, as I've not been bale to find anything even suggesting that a new ferry terminal/marshalling area is even being considered?
Pre-Covid there were peak time portions right up until March 2020 (it was my dad's morning train into London from Lewes). Off-peak there haven't been any direct London trains since at least 2010.
I'm not surprised. I know that the bus along the coast is more popular than the train for reasons of route and journey time as well as price.
It'd probably have been cheaper to rebuild the railway next to the road than fix it where it is given the past 5 years...
I have not been able to find the details I once had with regards to the new berth and slipway for ferries in the outer harbour area of Newhaven Harbour, but it will be roughly where E1 is on the figure 12 map in https://planningpolicyconsult.lewes...d=10428372&sessionid=&voteid=&partId=10430228.
