I’m a great believer that if we want people to leave their car at home, we need to give them a good alternative first. And that means better public transport.
Reigate train station is one of our busiest train stations in the borough, with 1 million entries and exits annually. The most transformational improvement for Reigate train station would be the extension of its platform to allow additional and more efficient services. Thameslink trains to and from London Bridge are unable to call at Reigate (because they're 12 carriages long); and services to and from London Victoria must split and join at Redhill. This extends journey times and can result in overcrowded trains.
A Network Rail scheme was proposed back in February 2020 to create a 12 car turn back platform to allow Thameslink trains to stop at the station and avoid the need for splitting and joining of trains at Redhill. More information can be found here.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/sussex/upg…
There was strong support from local residents and passengers with 87% supporting the upgrade. Disappointingly, this project was paused following the pandemic due to funding constraints and uncertainty around passenger demand.
Another obvious improvement is Oyster/contactless functionality. When Oyster/Contactless was extended to Gatwick, unfortunately Reigate was not included. This creates confusion for rail users and is especially problematic for young people attending Reigate College and using Zip Oyster cards.
I recently met with the Reigate, Redhill and District Rail Users’ Association to discuss both of the above, and they are actively lobbying for these improvements given the significant benefits to rail users. I support their efforts and I have written to the Secretary of State for Transport, Mark Harper MP, accordingly, to make the case for these projects. I will let you know when I hear back.
