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Introduction

Thank you for your welcome.

It鈥檚 an incredibly exciting time to be visiting Hastings. I鈥檓 thrilled to see your historic pier taking shape again. Back in 2010, no one thought it possible, but at the start of 2015, it won鈥檛 be long before the pier is open for business.

It鈥檚 an advantage of being Rail Minister that part of my job is to get out on the railway and visit towns like Hastings. I don鈥檛 have to rely just on briefings, reports and statistics 鈥� useful though these can be. I can see for myself what鈥檚 working, and where we need to improve. That鈥檚 what I reflected on during the journey down this morning (30 January 2015).

And if there鈥檚 something we can all agree on, it鈥檚 this: for a historic town as important as Hastings, in a stunning spot on the Sussex coast, a major tourist destination, with a world-class sustainable fishing industry 鈥� you are poorly served by rail connections to London.

Current situation

The problems with the Hastings line go back to the start of the railways. The line was dogged by poorly-built tunnels, leading to several near-collapses. The necessary reinforcement 鈥� which narrowed the tunnels 鈥� acts as a constraint on capacity to this day. Much more recently, you鈥檝e suffered repeated land slips triggered by last winter鈥檚 heavy rain.

The Marshlink route via Ashford isn鈥檛 much better. It鈥檚 an historic relic, one of the only non-electrified routes left in the south-east. So even though London is only 62 miles away if you go via Tunbridge Wells, peak services to Charing Cross via Tunbridge Wells typically take 1 hour 45 minutes.

That鈥檚 more than double the time it takes to travel the 65 miles from Northampton to London. And you must be fed-up of being reminded that Brightonians can get to Victoria Station in just 55 minutes.

This matters, because there鈥檚 a direct link between high capacity, fast transport links and regional economic growth. For businesses looking to invest, transport connections are a major consideration.

Hastings has great economic potential, so what can we do to help the town grow?

What we鈥檙e doing already

Well, we鈥檙e already making huge investment in rail in this country. We鈥檙e undertaking the biggest rail modernisation programme for over a century. In the 5 years to 2019, Network Rail will be spending over 拢38 billion to run and improve the rail network.

As part of our investment, we鈥檙e totally rebuilding London Bridge station. If London Bridge teaches us anything, it鈥檚 that Hastings is not the only spot on the network to have inherited a troubled, complex rail history.

180 years of additions, alterations, and expansion have left the lines serving the station in a complete tangle. And you鈥檒l know the problems that can cause to passengers using London Bridge.

So we are laying new lines and untangling the old ones. We are building a passenger concourse bigger than the pitch at Wembley. When we鈥檝e finished, London Bridge will offer many more through-trains every hour, to more destinations and with far fewer delays.

What鈥檚 unavoidable, I鈥檓 afraid, is that development work means disruption. You don鈥檛 clear up 180 years of rail history, at a station used by 54 million people every year, without impacting services. But there are things we can do to keep the disruption to a minimum. For example, we can make sure that the operators charged with running the network have the right plans to cope.

So when the franchise for this part of the network came up for renewal in October, we were faced with a choice. Southeastern has run that network since 2006, and the company coped well with the big timetable changes for the Olympics. Southeastern could also offer a new express service from Hastings to Charing Cross in 90 minutes at the peak.

So while I will be the first to say that, at times, Southeastern鈥檚 performance hasn鈥檛 always been good enough, we decided that handing the franchise to a new operator, at the same time as embarking on a total refurbishment of London Bridge station, would not be in passengers鈥� best interests. So we gave the franchise back to Southeastern until 2018, when the work at London Bridge is set to finish.

It鈥檚 great that David Statham, Southeastern鈥檚 new Managing Director is with us today. It鈥檒l be a big challenge to get this right for passengers over the next few years, and it鈥檚 a challenge I know David is equal to.

The complexity of the work at London Bridge means that the operator 鈥� and Network Rail 鈥� have to be spot-on in how they manage the challenges, and how they look after passengers.

So better train performance, punctuality and reliability was written into the franchise contract. That means if Southeastern doesn鈥檛 meet customer satisfaction targets, it will face financial penalties of up to 拢4 million.

So my job now is to keep an eye on things. If the changes aren鈥檛 being handled as well as they could be, I can get the rail industry together to sort it out.

Last week, I was pleased to host a summit with Southeastern, Network Rail and MPs from across the network.

We agreed that there is still a need for passenger communications, punctuality and the level of crowding to improve, so there鈥檚 going to be a daily performance monitoring plan, capacity reviews and we鈥檒l look at passenger compensation.

In the discussion later, I would be pleased to hear from you 鈥� how鈥檚 the new Hastings express service working? What other changes do you think we could make in the short-term to improve the services?

HS1 to Hastings proposal

But let me turn now to the longer-term, and the plan to extend the high speed rail network from St Pancras to Hastings via Ashford.

We know that, on paper, a high speed link to Hastings would give a journey time to London of perhaps 68 minutes. It would mean electrifying the Marshlink line, and building a new connection between Marshlink and the high speed line at Ashford.

So far, the hard thinking is being done by the people who鈥檇 have the responsibility for delivering it: Network Rail. That鈥檚 why I鈥檓 pleased Dave Ward is here today.

Network Rail is including the proposal as part of its Kent route study. The study will influence the rail industry鈥檚 advice to the government on future spending priorities.

And when the government has received that advice, we can decide the best way forward.

But I must be clear; change on the railways doesn鈥檛 happen overnight.

We will receive the rail industry鈥檚 advice in 2016, so we can take a decision in 2017 or 2018. Then the earliest the work could get under way is in 2019. So while I don鈥檛 pretend it鈥檚 a done deal, I can say that steps are being taken to get us there.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I agree that the Hastings service could be better. As a country we are right to be proud of our rail heritage. We were first in the world to build railways. But in Hastings, as elsewhere, our long rail history can mean that a network built for a Victorian market no longer meets the needs of 21st century passengers.

But I鈥檓 here today to say that I want Hastings get the best possible rail service. Significant improvements are underway. A new London Bridge station, and a new rail franchise for the south east. These will make a real difference. But the next challenge will be even more exciting. To see if we can bring Javelin trains to Hastings.

Thank you.