Cancellations and delays in ‘school’ train services between Sandwich to Minster were caused by issues including failure of the electrical supply, a landslip and a broken rail, says Southeastern.
The disruption to services stopping at Minster affected many Thanet youngsters who attend Sandwich Tech and left them facing problems getting to school or home again.
The landslip occurred in the Newington area of Swale on February 23. The area was repaired with trains running along the stretch from Monday (March 4).
Scott Brightwell, Operations & Safety Director at Southeastern, said: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused by recent disruption in this area. These were caused by a mixture of issues including failure of the electrical supply, a landslip and a broken rail.
“We have also seen the wettest February for a very long time and are working closely with our colleagues at Network Rail to improve how we manage these challenges.
“In the longer term there is investment planned for track and signalling in the area to improve reliability.
“The issues above resulted in some services being cancelled which we know impacts students. We changed our staffing arrangements in 2022 to make colleagues available in both the morning and afternoon at Sandwich station to help students when needed. There are also help points available at the station that link directly to our control centre to gain assistance at any time.
“Whilst Southeastern has low cancellation levels, when things do go wrong please seek assistance from our colleagues or help points and if delayed over 15 minutes please ensure you claim compensation via the appropriate channel.”
Find more information at: www.southeasternrailway.co.uk “
