Falmer Station

[clippedgull]

Not sure its possible to make the train carraiges any more than a 4 car due to the size of the platform.

I don't think longer** trains will be the problem, its finding the spare capacity of rolling stock.

**I'm sure the driver/guard can keep the doors locked for any carriages hanging off the end of the platform.

 

[Danny-Boy]

Not sure its possible to make the train carraiges any more than a 4 car due to the size of the platform, ive not seen a train of a longer configuration than this at falmer station, there is no time to lenghthen the platforms so the only option i suppose is to shuttle the trains from brighton to falmer eg , Brighton -falmer driver changes ends heads straight back off to brighton ect ect... the normal services that go to brighton from seaford eastbourne ect would have to be slotted in to a tight timescale though for the shuttle system to work , it takes around ten minutes to get from brighton to Falmer so in theory you could have the shuttle 6 extra 4 car drop offs at falmer via brighton plus the current 2 per hour regular services running on the east bound line. im sure the club and southern have come up with a much better plan than that but it will be interesting to see how its managed.

Not possible without a turn-back crossover at Falmer which presently does not exist and would cost megabucks to install. The "new" 313 units (with no toilets) are three carriages in length but I'm not sure that a two-set train could fit into the Lewes island platform where the trains would be turned around.
Class 313s come to Southern - Southern Electric Group

Falmer itself could probably take a 6-car train but Moulescoomb and all the others would have to as well unless the trains ran non-stop from Brighton to Falmer and back after the game.

 

[Danny-Boy]

I don't think longer** trains will be the problem, its finding the spare capacity of rolling stock.

**I'm sure the driver/guard can keep the doors locked for any carriages hanging off the end of the platform.

I don't think they can, it's not selective like that. Either all doors open or none.

 

[Mendoza]

It cant be more of a shambles than the buses back to Brighton situation at the moment.

 

[Simster]

I don't think they can, it's not selective like that. Either all doors open or none.

I don't think that's true. I frequently take the London Bridge to Horsham train home, and those alighting at Norwood junction have to make sure they are not on the front 4 carriages (on 12 carriage journeys).

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I don't think that's true. I frequently take the London Bridge to Horsham train home, and those alighting at Norwood junction have to make sure they are not on the front 4 carriages (on 12 carriage journeys).

And Portslade, which only opens the front 7 doors of a 12-car going towards Brighton.

 

[Notters]

It cant be more of a shambles than the buses back to Brighton situation at the moment.

The difference is, you can just walk at the moment, but it's quite a long way from Falmer!

 

[Easy 10]

It cant be more of a shambles than the buses back to Brighton situation at the moment.

With crowds of 15-20k+, I think it could you know.

 

[Easy 10]

This train thing has been a nagging worry in the back of my mind for yonks now, being as it would be my preferred method to and from the Amex.

I have visions of queues of West Ham proportions outside Falmer station (anyone who went there for the Cup a few years back will know what I mean), and that was with a couple of tube stations in the area as well. 4 trains an hour, with 4 carriages per train, is going to be completely and utterly inadequate. I just hope the club have come up with something with Southern to resolve this, but I've yet to see anything definite from the club about it. I did ask MP last year on a tour and he said "extra trains will be laid on", but didn't elaborate any further. Strikes me that we'll need a LOT of extra trains to cope with this.

There's talk of a minibus option from my local (in Portslade) to shuttle us from the pub to the stadium, drop us off, and then be waiting there after the game to pick us up and take us straight back to the pub afterwards. That would be perfect, hoping to christ that comes about, cos this train lark looks like it could be a right 'mare.

 

[Norman Potting]

It cant be more of a shambles than the buses back to Brighton situation at the moment.

I don't go to many games but personally have never had any problems with the buses to and from Mithras House, apart from when I got on a service bus by mistake once (no, I hadn't been drinking) and ended up having to walk from the Old Steine, fortunately on a dry day! When I used to go to more games and used Mill Road I also don't remember any major issues.

Please elaborate on what shambles you have had.

With regard to trains I suspect that there is no chance of a turnback facility at Falmer - you would probably be looking at a multi million pound investment used around 30 times a year. Best bet IMHO is to use some of Southern's diesel units from the Uckfield line which may well be spare at weekends - these could run a Lewes - Brighton shuttle. The modern electric stock does have the capacity for "Selective Door Opening" which I think is operated by some sort of GPS system, not by the guard pressing buttons. This would allow longer trains to use the platforms with only some of their doors opening which would however also raise issues with a longer "dwell time" in the station to allow passengers to get on/off as they would have to walk through the train. Personally I think the main issue will be in making sure passengers for beyond Lewes are allowed to access trains ahead of those just going to Lewes to get into their cars (ie probably me) - similar problem will probably exist with the buses. We will just have to wait and see.

Public transport/trainspotting bit now over

 

[Notters]

I have visions of queues of West Ham proportions outside Falmer station (anyone who went there for the Cup a few years back will know what I mean), and that was with a couple of tube stations in the area as well.

I'm confident it'll be far worse than that!

 

[Napper]

I guess thats why the after the game drinking etc is going to be pushed hard as the club must know this is potentially chaos.

Then again, this isn't a theartre and look at many away days with big crowds. Its never that easy getting away. Look at Villa and as you mentioned West Ham

 

[adrian29uk]

Tell me if this is a silly idea. You say they can only get 4 carriages due to the length of the platform, but what if they put 8 carriages on and got supporters to get on the first four and move down towards the end of the train until all 8 are filled? is this allowed?

 

[Titanic]

Tell me if this is a silly idea. You say they can only get 4 carriages due to the length of the platform, but what if they put 8 carriages on and got supporters to get on the first four and move down towards the end of the train until all 8 are filled? is this allowed?

Billingshurst, like many other stations on the Arun Valley line, only has a platform 4 carriages long at present (being extended to 8)... the 12-car peak time commuter trains simply open the front 4 carriage doors only. If you need to you can walk through the train to get off. Simple.

 

[Bob!]

Tell me if this is a silly idea. You say they can only get 4 carriages due to the length of the platform, but what if they put 8 carriages on and got supporters to get on the first four and move down towards the end of the train until all 8 are filled? is this allowed?

Billingshurst, like many other stations on the Arun Valley line, only has a platform 4 carriages long at present (being extended to 8)... the 12-car peak time commuter trains simply open the front 4 carriage doors only. If you need to you can walk through the train to get off. Simple.

we're not talking about people getting off, we're trying to get people away from the stadium, therefore the original question stands

 

[Spiros]

I'm not usually a trainspotter but as I also intend to take the train to Falmer I thought I'd do a bit of maths. In surveys so far, more than half have said that they'll catch the train - if we're generous we'll say that for a full house there'll be 11,500 trying to get home by train. Again being generous let's say that half go east and half go west - thats now 5,750 people trying to go to Brighton from Falmer at 5pm. Having done a bit of a google search for such things it seems that the capacity of a 4 carriage train is about 400 - 250 seated and 150 standing (a class 377 for the train buffs). You need about 15 of those trains to shift everyone going to Brighton. If the line can only handle a train every 8.5 minutes or so (according to some PDF I found on the Network Rail site) then you're looking at the last train travellers leaving at just after 7pm.

So far the club have glossed over this somewhat. I intend to ask a bit more when I have my season ticket presentation as their answer will affect how I answer my travel questionnaire. Also, the club have still not said how everyone will get to the stadium on days when there is no train service, such as Boxing Day, or if we will never play at home on such days.

 

[adrian29uk]

I wonder what traffic will be like the other way, i.e Falmer to Lewes?

 

[Hotchilidog]

My feeling is that initially people may find leaving the ground a bit of pain to begin with, but after a while things will settle down. I think if people stagger their journeys then things will not be so bad. I am also hopeful that more buses will be laid on to take up some of the train slack. Personally I plan to travel by train but stay at the ground for a while whilst the initial crowds disperse if the facilities live up to their billing.

 

[cuthbert]

I agree with Danny-Boy the class 313 trains come in multiples of 3 coaches, so I don't see why so many people are talking of 4 coach trains.

 

[Mendoza]

Please elaborate on what shambles you have had.

The last few games, buses from Withdean, back towards Brighton city centre have been as rare a Gary Hart goal. It just leaves loads of people standing around in the cold for no reason. The bigger the crowds have become, the less frequent the buses have turned up to take people home

As for Park and Ride, Ive never used them, so cant comment. Against Orient, a park and ride bus had to be used to ship people back to Brighton, but that was half an hour after the game had finished