Kentish Express Ashford & District
High-speed but too few seats as carriages cut
Exclusive
Passengers on the high speed service to London have described their early morning commute as a daily “nightmare” after the number of carriages on their train were halved, leading to overcrowding, with standing room only for many.
And they are furious that they may be forced to travel on the shorter train until December, despite paying more than £6,000 for an annual season ticket to St Pancras.
The 6.15am service from Margate to St Pancras International, which stops at Ashford at 7.06am, has been reduced from 12 carriages to six after one of the trains was damaged earlier in the summer.
The Javelin trains come in units of six carriages which cannot be divided, meaning that the whole train is removed from service if damaged.
An annual standard class high speed season ticket from Ashford International costs £6,116.00 – more if the London underground service is included – and customers have detailed their frustration.
Edward Lewis from Stelling Minnis said: “I catch the slow train each morning from Sandling near Hythe to Ashford and then catch the high speed into St Pancras each day.
“I have done this journey for over two years and always travel on the same trains.
“Mondays curiously are not as busy as Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when you are lucky if you can get a seat even with a 12-car train at 7.06am.
“It then calms down on Thursdays and Fridays as there are less people travelling.
“What is going to happen when all of the new houses are built around Canterbury, Ashford and Hythe over the next few years adding many hundreds of people who want to travel into London each day?”
Ms Williams from Singleton said: “I catch the train about twice a month and it’s now become a nightmare to find a seat, and a nightmare standing, as you have no personal space.
“It’s not a journey I look forward to and hope they soon put it back to a 12-car train.
“For the cost of £70.10 for a ticket, it’s not good value, good customer service and not good for anyone!
“What if there was a crash, with this many people, standing squashed together, the accident would be made a lot worse and where would insurances stand?”
David Walmsley, from Hythe, who usually gets the 7.06am train from Ashford said: “There are three really busy commuter trains in the morning, the 6.36am, 7.06am and 7.36am. All were 12 carriage trains.
“Then four weeks ago the 6.36am dropped to six carriages due to the carriage needing repair work. Now the 7.06 has also dropped to six!
“HS1 is meant to be the best train in the country but now the overcrowding in the morning is getting ridiculous.”
Chris Ward-Jones tweeted: “Just paid £6,776 to #southeastern who then cut my 12-car high speed to 6. Tweeted to ask if they would also reduce ticket cost. No reply!”
SHRIMP Hastings @1066shrimprail tweeted: “@Se_Railway units are not designed for high density usage as they do not have sufficient grip bars for pax [passengers] to hold at 140 mph.”