This week marks the 35th anniversary of the day the last train ran between Lewes and Uckfield.

The link's closure destroyed a railway that had served East Sussex people safely and efficiently for over 110 years, isolating Uckfield and Crowborough from the coast and cutting a major route between this county and Kent. At the same time, a valuable alternative route to the overcrowded Brighton line was wiped out.

Far from being a country branch line axed by Dr Beeching, this double-track main line had a good train service, and was profitable right to the end. Indeed, passenger figures from the 1960s show that the busiest part of the line was closed.

What really killed the railway was East Sussex County Council's 'Phoenix Causeway' relief road scheme in Lewes, which was designed so that it cut right across the tracks that hundreds of travellers used every day to reach their jobs, local schools, colleges as well as shops and for leisure.

It took the council less than two and half years to destroy this railway in 1969*. But when it came to repairing the damage, the council was a lot slower off the mark. Despite making encouraging noises, and besides having popular backing to restore the route with an easy scheme, they are still nowhere near getting the trains back - 35 years later.

"It really is astounding that they have achieved nothing in all these years," said Brian Hart, Campaign Director of the Wealden Line Campaign. "Since the 1970s the county council has commissioned all sorts of reports, but to no avail. Compare that to other local authorities who rolled up their sleeves and got far more difficult rail projects up and running. In Nottinghamshire, they even excavated a long-buried tunnel in order to reopen and extend the 'Robin Hood Line' to Mansfield."

"We know that our council doesn't have much money - but how can we expect organisations like the Strategic Rail Authority to take this project seriously if our council continually lets us down?" added Mr Hart. "I'm afraid that council bureaucrats seem content to sit on their hands and simply let East Sussex get overtaken by other areas. It will be a tragedy for the county if we have to wait many more years until they can get their act together."

* Notes for Editors: - The Phoenix Causeway was stage one of a three-phase Relief Road scheme to 'solve' traffic congestion in Lewes. The road scheme was pursued by East Sussex County Council in the face of huge local opposition, not least because it meant losing the useful rail link from Lewes to Tunbridge Wells and Croydon via Uckfield. As soon as the trains had stopped running, road engineers completed the construction of the Phoenix Causeway which opened in the summer of 1969. East Sussex County Council then scrapped stages two and three of the scheme and instead built the Cuilfail Tunnel to join up with the town's new bypass. Thus the railway was sacrificed for nothing. The final irony is that Lewes now suffers spiralling road traffic problems from Uckfield and the Wealden towns because the trains are gone!

21 February 2004