Under threat
Town could lose high speed service in next rail franchise
Maidstone could lose its high speed train services to London in the next rail franchise, it has emerged.
The Department for Transport recently outlined a series of service requirements for bid- ders when the new rail franchise is awarded in December.
Buried among them, however, is the option of scrapping high speed services from Maidstone West to the capital – of which there are three every weekday morning and evening – in favour of an alternative route to Abbey Wood, where passengers could then continue their journey into the city via Crossrail.
Precise journey times have not been outlined at this stage, but the KM esti- mates a commute to Canary Wharf or Bond Street via Abbey Wood will be around 20 minutes longer than the current 52-minute high speed trains to St Pancras.
Transport bosses have insisted, however, that bidders proposing this option
would need to demonstrate the clear benefit of doing so over the existing high speed service.
Lib Dem councillor James Willis was left fuming by the proposal.
“We fought hard to get these services for five years and there is now a real danger we will be going backwards rather than forwards,” he said.
“Maidstone is Kent’s county town but continues to be left in the cold.”
A DfT spokesperson said: “The winning bidder must run at least two trains per hour between Maidstone West and London St Pancras. However they are urged to introduce more services, as well as bring in other benefits such as shorter journey times.
“From December 2019, new Thameslink services between Maidstone East and Cambridge will also provide an extra two trains per hour in each direction.”
Rail campaigners point out that the Thameslink project is already behind schedule, after bosses announced last November they were pushing the launch date back a year in a move that also left Maidstone and the Weald MP Helen Grant “furious”.
Join the KM in its campaign to safeguard the high speed service. Go to KentOnline or Change.org for details. Let us know what you think by emailing messengernews@thekmgroup.co.uk.