The number of passengers using Rye railway station has returned to pre-Covid levels according to new research.
Almost half a million people arrive or leave from Rye each year according to the Office of Rail and Road – an increase of just over 21,000 on the year.
The newly released data also shows numbers using the Marshlink line have risen at all nine stations between Hastings and Ashford International for the second year running.
Rye has this year joined Three Oaks and Winchelsea stations with estimated use now above pre-Covid levels.
The data also shows how journeys at Winchelsea have risen by a third in the past year – a rise of 5,000 reflecting improved services at the station.
Research from On Time Trains says Rye had an average 1,316 passenger entries/exits each day in 2025.
Marshlink community rail partnership line chair Kevin Boorman said, “It’s really great news for everybody. I’m really pleased to see so many more people travelling by train. I’m especially grateful to those partners and stakeholders who are making the stations such great and welcoming places. Thank you very much.”
The Marshlink is one of the lines which form Southeast Communities Rail Partnership (SCRP). The organisation is a Community Interest Company which works to connect
people, places and opportunities on railway lines.
More details about the work of SCRP at www.southeastcrp.org
Image Credits: Chris Lawson , SECRP , On Time Trains .
Does ths mean we can get the additional peak time services back? The main reason given for not reinstating them was that passenger numbers were below pre-Covid levels.
I assume another excuse will now be found!
I got over excited for a bit there. I thought it meant more trains a hour !
I wonder how current passenger numbers compare to those prior to ending the direct Brighton to Ashford service in May 2018? Ended, as I recall, to ‘manage capacity issues’. (It worked for me: never used the service since then).
Increased frequency required
As outlined by Southern management in their presentation to the MarshLink Action Group AGM last June, there is little prospect of reinstating the shuttle imminently because of a national shortage of the Class 171 diesel rolling stock. MLAG, as the stakeholder campaigning group which represents rail user views to the Train Operating Company, will continue to press the case for shuttle services at weekday peaks and summer weekends if and when this situation should improve. We join in welcoming the uplift in passenger numbers, and are in frequent dialogue with Southern and Network Rail about other possible improvements to the service.
Hi, I work for Southern and completely understand the comments left above. We continually review passenger demand and seek to improve service provision where possible. In 2024 we reformed our fleet serving the Marshlink line from 2 to 3 carriage trains in anticipation of this growth and will review of any further interventions that are required noting the limitations we have in respect of our diesel fleet that MLAG mention above. We regularly engage with user groups including MLAG and thank them for their continued constructive feedback.
Doleham Halt – The Forgotten One
I would absolutely love to be able to use the Marshlink Line from my local station at Doleham Halt. When I first moved to the valley there was an hourly stopping service. Then we had a hail and ride. Schoolchlidren used it. Elderly people moved to the area specifically because there was a working station. nearby. You could wheel a suitcase in, get on a train and land at Gatwick Airport for your holiday, never needing airport parking or to brave the M25.
Then the stopping service was all but stopped. Lack of passenger numbers was cited as the reason, backed up by the passenger number survey conducted on two wet tuesdays in November many years ago.
Since then every farm building in the area has been converted to residential, greatly increasing the population. New builds and small estates proliferate in the surrounding villages further increasing the population – surely potentially a rail using population. Yet there seems never to have been another consultation or survey to determine just how well used a stopping train at Doleham Halt might be. Even a few stopping trains at times when they can be useful to passengers wanting to go shopping or have a bit of an evening social life. I am pretty sure, that passenger numbers might be considerably increased once it was publically known that a reliable service was once again available.
Bizarrely, Doleham Halt looks just like a fully operating station. It has all the usual technology and one can clearly hear the loudspeaker talking to nobody about the service that isn’t there. It is brilliantly lit at night, cleaned, swept and otherwise maintained and at this time of year, gritted in case a non existant passenger should slip on the empty platform. It needs a revision.
I live in Brede, a few weeks ago catching the train from Doleham would have been ideal as I needed to go to a premises close to Hastings Station. Needless to say I didn’t. It is a bit risky jumping on a moving train. If only the trains stopped or the hail and ride were reintroduced.
If Doleham Halt were to become more popular another problem would arise – parking. We cannot walk there from Brede and cycling is out of the question. Many years ago I used the train to travel from Ore to Three Oaks, I guess that is no longer possible, or is it.