From the horses mouth, RE trains from Falmer.

[British Bulldog]

The cheapest option would probably be to install a set of crossover points brighton side of falmer and then trains could run a shuttle service from brighton to falmer into the down side and then straight back into brighton. still not straightforward and would need signalling alterations but the most cost effective when compared to upgrading signalling from brighton to lewes and lengthening platforms.

That would be a complete waste of time and money as it would do nothing to increase the train capacity between Falmer and brighton which is the main problem, The simplest solution would be to alter the existing signal at Moulscombe. At the moment it's just a repeater signal for the stop signal on the viaduct outside Brighton, Alter that so it becomes a stop signal and it cuts the section time down by half thus doubling the capacity of trains. It would mean making alterations to the track circuiting and the interlocking which does'nt come cheap but it would solve the biggest problem there is on that line that affects match day travel.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

That would be a complete waste of time and money as it would do nothing to increase the train capacity between Falmer and brighton which is the main problem, The simplest solution would be to alter the existing signal at Moulscombe. At the moment it's just a repeater signal for the stop signal on the viaduct outside Brighton, Alter that so it becomes a stop signal and it cuts the section time down by half thus doubling the capacity of trains. It would mean making alterations to the track circuiting and the interlocking which does'nt come cheap but it would solve the biggest problem there is on that line that affects match day travel.

This section of line must now be experiencing the biggest jump in volume of traffic, compared to previous years of any section in Sussex. As such it should fall into the 'railway' planned annual upgrades that WE are self financing by travelling on it??

 

[Shooting Star]

Really think some people on here are being a little naive in regards to the trains here. Whilst it's easy for some people to get back, for others, it can take much longer. I normally go from Falmer to Lewes post-match. On Saturdays it's fine; could not be any better realistically. I don't leave early and the most I have to wait is 30 minutes on the train.

It's the night games that are the concern. In the space of 20 minutes, 3 or 4 trains have left to go to Brighton, whereas one comes for Lewes in that time. Whilst there may be more Brighton bound passengers, those who go to Lewes still constitute a large proportion of fans at the Amex. If we didn't get up to stand by the exits, leave dead on full time, and then run to the station, I dread to think how long it'd take to get away. At the rate we do it, it takes 45 minutes to get on the train. With that much effort. What adds to the problem is hopeless stewarding which allows everyone to bunch up and go round the outside at the gate before the platform, then they realise there's a problem, try and create a makeshift disabled passage (when they could have had 2 stewards standing there to make one in the first place), and don't solve the problem of people pushing there way to get at the front of the queue. I could see it all going horribly wrong one day, namely against Palace. They were lucky the majority of Brighton fans streamed out in stoppage time and Palace stayed behind to celebrate.

My personal solution? Put the same shuttle service operated on Saturdays to Lewes on night games. The irony is I wouldn't mind waiting 45-an hour to get on a train on Saturdays as it's still daytime. At night it's a bit of a different story.

 

[British Bulldog]

My personal solution? Put the same shuttle service operated on Saturdays to Lewes on night games. The irony is I wouldn't mind waiting 45-an hour to get on a train on Saturdays as it's still daytime. At night it's a bit of a different story.

The trouble is there's less available units for evening games as most of them are tied up with the evening peak service and I expect the same goes for train crews as well. Mind you if people think it's bad now you wait until a home match coincides with major disruption to services because of something like signalling failures, A broken rail, A fatality or even weekend engineering works, then you'll see some chaos and major moaning going on. We've been lucky so far but you just know it's going to happen at some point.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Why should the club need to pay for upgrades though?
If any venue in town has a gig, do they need to pay the railways or busses more so they can handle more punters?

Network Rail aren't going to do it in the kindness of their own heart, they are a private company and a pretty ruthless one at that!

If a new massive venue opened in town they might be expected to pay contributions through S106 but that's unlikely in Brighton as there's so many rail/bus services already.

 

[Albion Dan]

Why should the club need to pay for upgrades though?
If any venue in town has a gig, do they need to pay the railways or busses more so they can handle more punters?

If the amount of people is greater than the normal capacity of the service, and it required track or signal alterations then yesy the venue or gig would certainly have to pay.

 

[British Bulldog]

Network Rail aren't going to do it in the kindness of their own heart, they are a private company and a pretty ruthless one at that!

I very much doubt that network Rail would be in the slightest bit interested in it anyway, As it stands they've got a much bigger project in the pipeline to think about than upgrading the signalling on a branch line to satisfy a few football supporters.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

This section of line must now be experiencing the biggest jump in volume of traffic, compared to previous years of any section in Sussex. As such it should fall into the 'railway' planned annual upgrades that WE are self financing by travelling on it??

But most people going to games at the Amex pay practically nothing to travel on the line. And ALL of what they pay is already swallowed up by the costs of putting on extra trains and staff to cope with a rush that lasts no more than 3 hours on 25-30 occasions a year.

One season ticket holder, travelling from Brighton to London, is worth £3,532 a year to the railway. That's the same as 1,139 people making a return trip from Brighton to Falmer (and paying for it by buying an off-peak day return ticket).

If the railway is going to invest in the infrastructure, they will get a much better return from improving the attractiveness of the service to London commuters.

 

[Norman Potting]

But most people going to games at the Amex pay practically nothing to travel on the line. And ALL of what they pay is already swallowed up by the costs of putting on extra trains and staff to cope with a rush that lasts no more than 3 hours on 25-30 occasions a year.

One season ticket holder, travelling from Brighton to London, is worth £3,532 a year to the railway. That's the same as 1,139 people making a return trip from Brighton to Falmer (and paying for it by buying an off-peak day return ticket).

If the railway is going to invest in the infrastructure, they will get a much better return from improving the attractiveness of the service to London commuters.

Nail, head Lord B.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Long term the club/Southern Railway should consider building a spur on the line so trains from London can go direct to Falmer bypassing Brighton station entirely.

Blimey, now you're talking about adding a '0' on to the cost of the stadium. Ridiculous.

Seems to me for the current capacity, it's not a huge problem, things just need improving slightly by mean of organisation. For the expansion, the only solution I see is more buses - certainly some shuttles from Falmer to Brighton Station, and maybe some from Falmer to Lewes. Having only seen once, after the Palace game I just walked straight on to an empty 25 and was back in town in 10 minutes.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Can't we just employ people to stand on the line an hold up red or green flags on matchdays

 

[Drumstick]

I don't know why they haven't borrowed one of those diggers from the 4D project and make a underground train line from Brighton station to Falmer. Building underground trains isn't that expensive!

FISHING

 

[British Bulldog]

Can't we just employ people to stand on the line an hold up red or green flags on matchdays

Been there and done that on many occasions, Flipping cold it used to be in the winter months as well.

 

[LamieRobertson]

On Saturday the match finished at 7.20. I was at the Brighton Dome ready to watch a comedy show at 8. Not bad really is it.

Would that b Reg D Hunter...i got there too...what did u think of it?

 

[The Large One]

So, in summary, we'd be looking at the club spending an extra (let's be cheapskates here) £50m in order that, ultimately, an extra 4-5,000 people get on the train with a 10-minute delay rather than a 20-25-minute delay.

Righty-ho.

 

[Badger]

I don't know why they haven't borrowed one of those diggers from the 4D project and make a underground train line from Brighton station to Falmer. Building underground trains isn't that expensive!

FISHING

Teleporters is surely the best option. I know Falmer only has the capacity for 8 teleporters but I'm sure with a bit of extra funding they could increase it to 12 and I reckon that would help ease any transport concerns people have.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Blimey, now you're talking about adding a '0' on to the cost of the stadium. Ridiculous.

Seems to me for the current capacity, it's not a huge problem, things just need improving slightly by mean of organisation. For the expansion, the only solution I see is more buses - certainly some shuttles from Falmer to Brighton Station, and maybe some from Falmer to Lewes. Having only seen once, after the Palace game I just walked straight on to an empty 25 and was back in town in 10 minutes.

But, like the trains, are there "spare" units and drivers available anywhere to provide a shuttle bus service? P&R buses are being brought in from all round the place, presumablly because B&H Buses doesn't have the capacity for 4-5 hours x23 or so times per year.

 

[Drumstick]

Teleporters is surely the best option. I know Falmer only has the capacity for 8 teleporters but I'm sure with a bit of extra funding they could increase it to 12 and I reckon that would help ease any transport concerns people have.

Or we could build a massive TRAVELATOR like you find in the airports. That'd do the job.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

But, like the trains, are there "spare" units and drivers available anywhere to provide a shuttle bus service? P&R buses are being brought in from all round the place, presumablly because B&H Buses doesn't have the capacity for 4-5 hours x23 or so times per year.

I have no idea, but it's got to be far easier than more trains - no more infrastructure needed.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

I have no idea, but it's got to be far easier than more trains - no more infrastructure needed.

Cheaper than trains for sure but someone like B&H Buses, Metrobus etc will still have to buy/lease additional buses in order to have the spare capacity to be able to provide a shuttle service. Just like some expect Southern to produce extra rolling stock out of thin air on a Tuesday evening I can't see this being a cost effective proposition for x23 afternoons/evenings pa..