Delivering on the railways, Crawley Observer Column, Wednesday 25th March 2026

Like most Crawley commuters, rail fares are one of my biggest areas of expense, and that cost has grown significantly over recent years. When the Conservatives came to power in 2010, a season ticket from Three Bridges to London cost £2,804. By the time they left office the cost had almost doubled to £5,388, an increase far greater than inflation.

With a change of Government comes a change of priorities and this year rail-users are benefitting from the first fare freeze in many years. Just one of a number of ways in which Labour is working to reduce the day-to-day cost of living.

We’re now just two months away from our local rail network being renationalised, making the needs of rail-users the sole priority of the railways once again. In addition it is anticipated that the change will enable a greater integration across networks, economies of scale, and long-term investment by removing the uncertainties of re-tendering for rail franchises.

In our area, the greatest priority for investment is in what is known as the ‘Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme’ or CARS, a proposal which would deal with the bottleneck at East Croydon station, enabling an increased number of services to be run along the Brighton Mainline.

It’s sorely needed, with current capacity on the line due to run out at peak hours in just four years. This has become even more pressing with the new runway at Gatwick set to not only double passenger numbers, but also create an additional 14,000 jobs, requiring that thousands more workers either move into the area or commute in daily.

Unfortunately, despite large amounts having already been spent on planning and buying the land necessary to the works, Rishi Sunak cancelled the scheme, leaving the future of the network uncertain.

For the South East, these works are essential, not only to attract more investment into the area, but to sustain what we already have, which is why I am now one of a group of MPs working hard to ensure CARS is kept on the Government’s radar as we head into the next spending review.