Future
Work started in Autumn 2008 on site clearance work for the construction of a new separate single platform station for the Bluebell Railway for their extension northwards from Kingscote. This station will be approx 100 yards south of the existing National Rail station. The section of line to Kingscote is planned to reopen in 2013.
With regard to the possible reopening of the remaining section of the line from Tunbridge Wells to Three Bridges, a number of obstacles would appear to stand in the way of such action, most notably:
1) An industrial site currently occupies the former location of Forest Row railway station as well as a small recycling centre to west.
2) The formation has been built across in several places notably in East Grinstead where about one mile of the trackbed from Station Road to the Lewes Road tunnel has been taken over for a relief road (the A22 ironically named "Beeching Way" after Richard Beeching whose recommendations closed the railway line). As there is no feasible alternative route into the station, this road would need to be reconverted back to rail. Any such action would in all likelihood result in a cut in capacity on an already highly congested road network.
3) The site of Grange Road has disappeared under a small parade of shops as well as housing which block 0.64 miles of the formation.
4) In 1974 East Sussex County Council created the Forest Way linear Country Park using the trackbed of the line from East Grinstead (just to the east of "Beeching Way") as far as Groombridge. Similarly, in 1979 West Sussex County Council created the Worth Way linear Country Park using the disused Three Bridges to East Grinstead line. Both have now been incorporated in to the Sustrans National Cycle Network.
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grange Road | British Rail Southern Region |
Forest Row | ||
Read more about this topic: East Grinstead Railway Station
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