Disruption for Brighton

Yet another weekend of disruption on the Brighton Main Line (BML). No trains between Brighton and Three Bridges (25 miles), and a bus substitution between the two towns - no matter where the engineering work is located. It seems Three Bridges is chosen because it has a large car park to store the fleet of buses needed to replace the trains.

A journey to London Victoria, which on a good day will take 59 minutes, therefore takes 1hr 43mins on a disrupted day. The alternative without the need to change trains is to travel along the West Coastway to Littlehampton, then reverse and up the Arun Valley Line via Horsham to join the BML at Three Bridges. This journey will take 2hrs 3mins.

Later this year we have a line closure between the same two points for a whole week in October, and then another week in February 2019. I do not think the travelling public realises the chaos this will cause.

A few years ago, one of the prospective franchise companies proposed a spur to connect the Coastway Line with Brighton to the Arun Valley Line, at what is known as Arundel Junction. This would take 30 minutes off the aforementioned journey via Littlehampton, making it quicker than the train/bus journey.

This was dropped with no explanation. Why? The land is still available - it is only a field of rough pasture. The other alternative is, of course, BML 2.