Ref No: HT21 (14/15) Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport Key Decision: Yes West Sussex County Council response to the Part I or Part II: Network Rail draft Sussex Area Route Study Part I consultation Report by Director of Highways and Transport and Electoral Director of Strategic Planning and Place Divisions: All Executive Summary Network Rail is undertaking a consultation to gather views on its draft South East Route: Sussex Area Route Study. This study sets out a 30-year vision for this area of the rail network. It primarily focuses on rail industry Control Period 6 (2019-2024) to inform Government investment decisions for this time frame, but also considers growth in demand for rail travel to 2043. Consultation responses are being welcomed on any of the ideas and interventions set out in the study. The study will inform future decisions about rail infrastructure and rail service planning as well as the capacity of major stations, rather than specific timetable, service quality and station access issues which are concerns for the rail franchisee. Key issues highlighted in the County Council response include: support for investment to expand capacity for the Brighton Main Line; a request for further investment in rail infrastructure away from routes to London to support a balanced economy; support for analysis undertaken within the Study into the Arundel Chord scheme and provision of an improved journey times along the West Coastway route; and requests for greater attention to be made to level crossing and car parking issues within the study. Recommendation The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport approves West Sussex County Council’s consultation response, contained in Appendix A of the report, for submission to the Network Rail draft South East Route: Sussex Area Route Study. 1. Background and Context 1.1 Network Rail is undertaking a consultation to gather views on the draft Sussex Area Route Study. The consultation runs until Tuesday 13 January 2015. Further information and a copy of the draft study can be accessed from: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/long-term-planning-process/south- east-route-sussex-area-route-study-draft-for-consultation/. 1.2 The study sets the strategic vision for the future of the Sussex Area Route network focusing on rail industry Control Period 6 (2019-2024) to inform Government investment decisions for this rail industry planning time frame. The study also considers growth in demand over a 30-year timeframe to 2043. 1.3 The study will inform strategic decisions about rail infrastructure and rail service planning, as well as the capacity of major stations. The study does not address specific timetable issues, service quality or station access matters which are matters for the new rail franchise operator (Govia Thameslink Railway) to address. 1.4 This study is of importance to West Sussex as it includes all of the rail network services operating to or from the County. The study also includes many services across East Sussex, Surrey, west Kent and south Hampshire, and all services on the core routes to and from London Victoria, London Bridge and through the Thameslink Core to London St Pancras International (Fig. 1 Sussex Route Study Geographical Scope, at Appendix B). 1.5 The study is relevant to the objectives of the West Sussex Transport Plan 2011-2026, in particular improving connectivity and access to local labour markets and key centres, and delivering transport improvements to support and facilitate sustainable growth. 1.6 After the consultation closes in January, Network Rail will consider the responses, before preparing its final report which is expected to be published in summer 2015. 1.7 The proposed response to the consultation is included within Appendix A. 2. Consultation 2.1 An informal consultation exercise was undertaken inviting comments from key stakeholder groups, including local planning authorities, neighbouring highway authorities, Gatwick Airport Ltd, Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership, which has informed the consultation response. Respondents were asked to consider the strategic issues set out in Section 3. 2.2 There was a large amount of support for the intended position on these strategic issues. This informal consultation exercise highlighted the priorities of rail service provision across a number of issues, including capacity, service quality and accessibility, and ranked the overall priorities of rail service provision in supporting economic growth and providing additional capacity. 2.3 An early draft of the consultation response was also scrutinised by the Environmental and Community Services Select Committee. The Committee identified a series of issues which have been incorporated into the proposed response in Appendix A. 2.4 The Committee’s comments stressed the importance of the response linking to the economic strategy for West Sussex and highlighted issues related to level crossings, car parking at stations, and the need to stress the importance of capacity and reliability of services alongside journey time improvements. Comments also highlighted the potential to use spare capacity on different routes to address capacity issues on the Brighton Main Line. 3. Proposed response key issues The key issues considered in the response are set out below: 3.1 Capacity issues – the study identifies a set of proposed infrastructure improvements for the Brighton Main Line needed to meet forecast growth in passengers up to 2043. The improvements include capacity enhancements at London Victoria, Clapham Junction, Windmill Bridge Junction, East Croydon, Stoats Nest Junction, Gatwick Airport, Haywards Heath, Keymer Junction/Wivelsfield and Hove costing in the order of £1bn. The proposals will provide additional capacity benefiting West Sussex rail passengers through less congested travelling conditions and improved service reliability. This will support economic growth in West Sussex including continued growth in airport passengers using Gatwick Airport. It is proposed to support the proposals whilst also requesting further information and consultation on the capacity enhancement schemes at the earliest opportunity to provide greater understanding of their implications. 3.2 Meeting future capacity – the study identifies proposals which will focus investment to alleviate capacity issues on the Brighton Main Line corridor, as this is the where capacity issues are likely to be most prevalent in the future. This may increase the gap between strong economic performance in London and weaker performance outside London where transport connections are poorer. This may fail to support the County Council’s aspirations for a more balanced economy across the South East, including regeneration of the West Sussex coastal towns. Therefore, it is proposed to highlight the economic growth aspirations of local stakeholders and request that greater focus and investment is directed towards locations away from London to support economic uplift in these areas. As opportunities to enhance capacity into London will become increasingly expensive, investing in infrastructure which improves connections between locations outside London, may also be more affordable and represent better value for money. 3.3 Arundel Chord – Network Rail has analysed the costs and operational benefits of an Arundel Chord and concluded the scheme has a low cost- benefit ratio of 0.3 (see Fig. 2 Arundel Chord at Appendix C). The indicative cost estimate for this scheme is £55m. It is proposed to note the conclusions of the analysis, but highlight that economic performance of the West Sussex coastal towns suffers from the slow and unreliable east-west connections provided by the strategic road and rail networks. It is proposed to support further investigation into opportunities which would reduce journey times between main towns along the West Coastway and Arun Valley lines to enhance economic performance and complement planned investment in the strategic and local highway network in this area. 3.4 Brighton and West Coastway to West Country – Network Rail have analysed the potential to reduce journey times for some services along the West Coastway by changing stopping patterns alongside some infrastructure improvements. A limited stop service through West Sussex (Brighton-Worthing-Chichester-Havant) is considered which would potentially reduce journey times between Brighton and Chichester from 49 to 35 minutes and between Brighton and Southampton from 1hr 46min to 1hr 25min (as examples). However, this is likely to be accompanied by increases in average journey times between other local centres, including services between Brighton and Portsmouth and other intermediate stations. It is proposed to request further information and dialogue about the implications for all services along the West Coastway corridor, including connectivity with Arun Valley Line services, and investigation into economic and social impacts of this proposal. 3.5 Other strategic issues – The study does not mention the connectivity, congestion and safety issues associated with level crossings which are a particular problem in some areas of West Sussex. As alleviating these issues typically requires provision of new road bridges on the local highway network, it is proposed to highlight the issues caused by level crossings and request greater collaboration between Network Rail and local highway authorities to identify, develop, fund and implement improvements as opportunities arise. The study also does not highlight the issues associated