Until the mid 1960s public transport offered a reasonable way to cross the South East region. Hourly train services ran from Tonbridge to Brighton, Eastbourne and the Medway Towns and a direct bus service connected Brighton with Gravesend via Tunbridge Wells. By 1969 however all these services had been discontinued. Passengers in the 70s, 80s and 90s faced inconvenient slow services and several changes. Many people abandoned trains and buses and defected to cars - something reinforced by government policies that saw millions of pounds invested in new roads such as the M25.

At the same time population expansion in Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone, Tonbridge, Paddock Wood and other centres saw gridlock develop in town centres and industrial estates/retail parks alike.

For example it can take over one hour to travel between the towns of Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone by train, with the last departure at 9.51pm. The equivalent bus is little better, with regular users complaing of its unreliability (exacerbated by congestion in Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Maidstone) . For a journey of, as the crow flies, 17 miles, this is hardly going to encourage people out of their cars.

It is time to start a conversation about the future. Can we envisage carrying on as we are, with a creaking mid-nineteenth century rail network, hazardous levels of air pollution and a few more miles of bypass which only leave our town centres more congested, or should we think big?

A few miles of new railway line, linking Tunbridge Wells to Paddock Wood, would allow cross-country train services from Hastings to run directly to Maidstone and the Medway Towns. If the line between Tunbridge Wells and Brighton were to be reopened, our proposal would enable good connections between the whole of the Sussex Coast and the county of Kent.

Journey times would depend on the precise scheme adopted, as there are a number of options involving how many stations would be provided on the new route, or whether a mixture of 'fast' and 'slow' services would be provided. However, it would be possible to reduce journey times between Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone to about thirty minutes. These trains would run from right in the centre of Tunbridge Wells to Maidstone West station, just across the river from the main commercial district of the town.

Further development, including a possible link to Tonbridge, would also give rail access to the Longfield Road, Pembury and Five Oak Green areas, allowing a real alternative to the car for local people.