Council bosses in a seaside town are drumming up support for a fast rail link to London amid claims that journey times are stuck in the past.

Eastbourne Borough Council leader Ian Lucas said it takes as long now to travel from the resort to the capital as it did 100 years ago.

Journey times between Eastbourne and London take more than an hour and a half.

Coun Lucas said a fast express service from Eastbourne to London would boost tourism, which underpins the town's economy.

Regular express journeys between Brighton and London are already run by rail operator Southern and take about 50 minutes.

Now Coun Lucas has called on the people of Eastbourne to rally round and urge Southern to introduce a similar link.

He said: "The train journey to London takes as long now as it did 100 years ago. It's time we said enough.

"We deserve a faster service which will benefit business, tourism and residents alike. If the whole town gets behind this we can send a very strong message to the train company that it's about time we got a better service."

The bid is being backed by Eastbourne Tory MP Nigel Waterson and business and tourism leaders in the town.

He has suggested a fast service that stops once en route to London.

Mr Waterson said: "I know there have been high-level discussions between the Strategic Rail Authority, ministers and the rail companies.

"I met with the rail company recently. It is overdue for us to have a fast service at certain times of day which might stop once en route to London, say at Gatwick or East Croydon.

"This could cut journey times to London to little more than an hour, with all the obvious benefits for business, tourism and my constituents."

A Southern spokesman said the company would be prepared to look at representations about setting up an express link.

He said: "We would look at any proposal that was put to us by a local authority.

We are regularly in contact with councils about the needs of the local population.

"If it can be proved that it would help and if it is possible then we would be more than happy to look at that."

Monday, February 27, 2006