By Sarah Booker
Three of Brighton’s railway stations may be left unmanned if proposals in the McNulty Report are approved by transport secretary Philip Hammond this autumn.
Passengers travelling from London Road, Moulescoomb and Falmer will have to buy tickets from machines as the stations are among the 675 on the government hit list.
London and the South East will be the hardest hit, according to the Transport Salaried Staff Association (TSSA), with 265 stations being left unmanned with no ticket offices.
The TSSA is launching a SOS-Save our Station ticket offices campaign which will tour the party conferences over the next four week urging MPs to save local ticket offices in their constituencies.
All three stations serve commuters travelling to and from Brighton and Sussex Universities.
Falmer has recently been upgraded with wider footpaths and a larger bridge to cope with increased passenger numbers travelling to the Amex Stadium on Brighton and Hove Albion match days.
Click here for a full list of stations which could be left unmanned.
What do you think?
What impact will unmanned stations have on passenger safety?
How important is it to have a manned ticket office?
Share your views by commenting below.
This move effectively downgrades and will reduce rail travel. It also makes these stations potentially very threatening crime hotspots. Despicable. Must NOT be allowed if the government is serious about increasing rail use. BLOODY TREASONOUS SUGGESTION IN FACT!
Agree Valerie, meanwhile that Caroline Lucas sits back and does nothing to stop this – we need a truly local MP again.
Have you emailed her about it Aaa?
Caroline Lucas didn’t reply to my emails last year. Do you know if she is in London or Brussels at the moment?
Still she will gave a stiff fight on her hands to retain her seat with the boundary changes. Labour could take back that seat on a general election turnout and will make her spend more time locally.
There was much talk in the ’90s about traffic reduction & how these local stations could be part of an integrated coastway rail route. Transport 2000 (as it then was) campaigned a lot on this, but we seem to be going backwards. Think of Falmer in the winter with no staff, and all those football fans plus students!
Aaa I had a reply from Caroline Lucas, but then I put my address on it and live in her constituency. It took a couple of weeks, but then that’s quite usual for MPs.