Trains weren’t running from Rye station again last weekend, with a replacement bus service in operation. Cue choruses of “not again”. On Saturday morning (February 7), I walked past the station and saw that work had begun to refit and repair the bridge to platform 1 (towards Ashford).
When I looked, I saw that the steps were being removed and replaced. My original thought was: will this be finished by Sunday evening? If not, the alternative is a bus or drive and park at Ashford. Monday morning rail chaos seemed imminent.
I checked again on Sunday afternoon, at about 4 pm. The contractors were packing up and the work looked to be complete. For once, credit is due to Network Rail as the work has been carried out on time and trains were running again on Sunday evening.