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London and South East


Click on name to go direct to section: Area / Local Divisions / Branch news / Current campaigns / Current consultations / What’s on / London and South East rail user groups / Community Rail Partnerships / Heritage Railways / Train Operating Company liaison / Passenger representative groups / Other regional and sub-national authorities / Branch contacts / Neighbouring branches / Branch dashboard

Area

The regional branch covers London and most of the Home Counties:
Bedfordshire (now Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, and Luton unitary authorities), south Essex (including Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock unitary authorities), Hertfordshire, Kent (including Medway unitary authority), Surrey, East and West Sussex (other than south-west Sussex, which is overseen by Wessex branch), City of Brighton & Hove unitary authority, and Greater London.
Because of its size, the regional branch also has several local, largely county-based, divisions.

Local Divisions

Just click on the green links, here and below, for further information including details of Division meetings open to all:-
  • Eastern - south Essex and north-east & east London
  • Herts and Beds - Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
  • Kent - including south-east London
  • London Metro - TfL zonal area plus Mayor's 'rail boundary'.
  • Surrey - including south-west London
  • Sussex and Coastway - East Sussex, Brighton & Hove, West Sussex, and South Downs National Park

Branch news

  • Click here to view our latest quarterly branch newsletter railse issue no.162 December 2023.
  • Click here to view our latest monthly branch e-newsletter inter-railse issue no.65 November 2023.
  • Click here to view or download any of our quarterly branch newsletters railse since July 2010, and our monthly branch e-newsletters inter-railse since July 2018.
  • Email roger.blake at railfuture.org.uk to subscribe to the monthly inter-railse.
  • See too details of our local Branch Twitter feed.
  • See also the quick-reference dashboards of all branch quarterly newsletters since July 2010, and all monthly e-newsletters since July 2018.
  • Click here to view our Manifesto for Rail for the May 2021 London Mayoral and Assembly Elections. We think (1) Focus on delivery; (2) Be flexible; (3) Make best use if what we have got; and (4) Plan for the future.

Current campaigns

Our primary rail development campaigns are for:
  • Uckfield - Lewes reinstating a rail link to Bridge the gap between Uckfield and Lewes and enable residents of the Weald to travel to reach jobs and education in Brighton & Hove to support economic growth and spread prosperity in the county, create an additional route between London and the South Coast to help relieve the Brighton Main Line, and pave the way for Thameslink 2. Development of a new garden community in the area served by the line would both meet the need for new homes to satisfy Brighton's growing employment market, and justify reinstating the railway between Uckfield and Lewes to serve it.
  • Marshlink improved services, with quicker connections at Ashford International station with HS1 services (secured since May and December 2018 timetable changes), new track connection with HS1 at Ashford International, and comprehensive route upgrade for two all-day/every-day services (an hourly all-stations stopping service and an hourly limited-stop service) including line-speed increases, Rye passing loop extended to create dynamic loop, and then through high-speed services between London St. Pancras International and Rye, Hastings, St. Leonards-on-Sea, Bexhill-on-Sea, and Eastbourne.
  • Hoo Peninsula Railway - upgrading the freight-only branch line to restore passenger services as far as a new station at Hoo St. Werburgh (near the former Sharnal Street station) to provide sustainable transport capacity, connectivity and choice for the incoming residents of the up to c.15,000 new homes to be built as part of Future Hoo. See September-October 2023 public consultation Setting the direction for Medway 2040 and our response. See also January 2020 article Hoo-rail victory and our presentation in Gravesend in October 2021.
  • A new Thameslink 2 metro route between East Croydon, Docklands and North London via tunnel between East Croydon and Addiscombe, the Hayes branch, and tunnel between Lewisham, Canary Wharf and Stratford, connecting to the West Anglia and Great Eastern main lines.
Click current campaigns for other campaigns in our branch area.

Click Rail investment planning for information on Network Rail, the ORR and the DfT planning and funding a bigger better railway.

Current consultations

Comments, responding to the consultation questions asked, to Branch Vice-Chairman roger.blake at railfuture.org.uk unless otherwise specified

View or download our responses to past consultations under 'Submissions', and all national responses in Consultation responses.

Whats on

Railfuture and other local, regional and national events, including conferences, and some key rail dates.

The next regional branch events will be a campaign stall led by Kent Division at the annual Erith Model Railway Show on Saturday 27 / Sunday 28 January 2024, at the Longfield Academy, and a return visit to Alexandra Palace for a branch campaign stall at the London Festival of Railway Modelling on Saturday 16 / Sunday 17 March 2024.

The most recent regional branch members' meeting was on Saturday 22 April 2023. An open morning meeting, with guest speakers Mark Vallely, Head of Strategy at Transport for the South East, and Railfuture Policy Director Ian Brown CBE, was followed by the AGM after lunch. See meeting papers and Mark's presentation Strategic Transport Investment: TfSE’s 30-year plan and the role for rail. Our venue, as in previous years, was Wesley's Chapel & Leysian Mission, 49 City Road, London, EC1Y 1AU. We provided a simple hybrid solution to support remote viewing for anyone who couldn’t make it in person.
Wesley's Chapel London

The previous regional branch meeting was on Thursday 21 July 2022 when we had an online presentation followed by a tri-branch discussion on the draft Strategic Investment Plan being consulted by Transport for the South East. Members from our neighbouring Thames Valley and Wessex branches joined us as TfSE's area includes important parts of their areas (Reading plus five other ex-Berkshire unitary authorities, and Hampshire plus Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton unitary authorities).

The previous regional branch meeting and AGM was on Saturday 30 April 2022. We were in person and, in the morning, were online as well (as the main topic was of national interest).
In the morning we had a speaker and a panel:
  • Bridget Eickhoff from the Rail Safety and Standards Board spoke on the subject of the 'platform-train interface' - or 'step-free journeys from street to seat.' Her Presentation can be viewed here, or downloaded here (3540Kb).
  • Railfuture Directors took questions from the audience.
We undertook the formal business of the members' AGM at 14:00. Papers for the meeting are available: view or download (15 pages/518Kb). As well as the formal updates, we spent time reviewing priorities for the forthcoming year.
  • Annual nominations for Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Hon. Secretary, Hon. Treasurer and up to six other members to be elected to the branch committee for 2022 had closed, and there was no election ballot.
  • Branch Standing Orders can be viewed here, or downloaded here (626Kb).
Our venue, as in 2019, was Wesley's Chapel & Leysian Mission, 49 City Road, London, EC1Y 1AU.

The most recent regional branch event was on Saturday 2 September 2023 with our Bridge the gap campaign stall at the revived Lewes Societies Fair, held in Lewes Town Hall.

The previous regional branch event was on Sunday 4 June 2023, with our Bridge the gap campaign stall at the Uckfield & District Lions Club afternoon Family Fun Day and car boot sale at Luxford Field, Civic Approach / Library Way, off High Street, Uckfield, East Sussex, TN22 1BP. More info: Uckfield Lions.

A previous regional branch event was on Saturday / Sunday 20/21 May 2023 when we had a stall in Faversham's Guildhall in Market Place as we participated in the annual Faversham Festival of Transport.

Earlier regional branch events in 2023 were on Saturday 18 / Sunday 19 March when we had a stall at London's Alexandra Palace for the London Festival of Railway Modelling, and before that on Saturday 28 / Sunday 29 January we had a stall at the Longfield Academy for the Erith Model Railway Society's Exhibition.

A previous regional branch event was on Saturday/Sunday 19/20 November 2022, based around the Ashford 180 anniversary celebrations, organised by Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre: AIMREC. Railfuture London & South East regional branch has a stall in the main station foyer.

The previous event was on Saturday 9 July 2022 when we had our Bridge the gap stall at the Uckfield Festival's Big Day.

A similar previous regional branch event was on Sunday 5 June 2022 when we had our Bridge the gap stall at the Uckfield & District Lions Club's Platinum Jubilee Picnic.

The regional branch had a stall over the weekend of 14/15 May 2022 when we were in Faversham's Guildhall in Market Place as we participated in the Faversham Festival of Transport.

The regional branch had a stall at the London Festival of Railway Modelling on 19/20 March 2022 at Alexandra Palace, London N22 7AY.

There was a regional branch meeting on Saturday 17th April 2021 on the theme Re-growing our railway. We were joined by guest speakers Linda McCord from Transport Focus, Alex Hellier and Mike Smith from Network Rail, and Steve White from GTR. It was held online from 11.00, and concluded with the brief formalities of an AGM. See our advance background briefing here, and the formal AGM agenda and reports here.

The 2020 AGM was NOT held on Saturday 25th April 2020 as had been planned.

The 2019 AGM was held after lunch on Saturday 27th April 2019. View or download the Agenda, and all reports for 2018 including Minutes of the 2018 AGM, separately viewable or downloadable. It was preceded by an open morning session on rail access to London's airports, with guest speakers Steve Costello from Heathrow Southern Railway (view presentation) and Transport for London's Aviation Strategy Lead Shamal Ratnayaka (view presentation).

L and SE rail user groups

includes the following groups affiliated to Railfuture, with benefits including access to Railfuture's Fighting Fund.


All other known rail user groups in our regional branch area can be viewed here (August 2020).

Community Rail Partnerships and Station Adoption Groups

in and around the London and South East region including:
under the auspices of the national Community Rail Network (formerly Association of Community Rail Partnerships) - 'engaging communities in their railways' - with support from the Department for Transport and from Network Rail.

Heritage Railways

in and around the London and South East region, including those with mainline interchange:
See also Preserved lines as public transport and reports from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Heritage Rail.

Train Operating Company liaison - Railfuture representatives

London & South East operators:
Long-distance operators serving London and the South East:

Passenger representative groups

Other regional and sub-national authorities

Branch contacts

Neighbouring branches

Branch dashboard

Full dashboard.

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