Tube Trains At The Seaside (Island Line Isle of Wight)

Member Name: T4imbo3107

Product:	Island Line Isle of Wight
Date:	05/06/09 (220 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap prices.

Disadvantages: Underused, requires investment to bring up to speed.

The time we spent on the Isle of Wight travelling around the island itself was always made by car; the option of using the car meant we had a lot of freedom. We had enquired about the prices available but were advised that towns like Ryde offer an hour of free parking anyway, so we decided to take the car instead.

Whilst we were in Ryde, we decided to travel on the Island Railway, as an enthusiast this was a bit of a special trip as this railway uses 1938 London Underground trains making the rolling stock over 70 years old. There are a total of eight stations on the network as the line stops at Shanklin which is the furthest station from Ryde Pier; however the two further stations of Wroxall and Ventnor were closed in 1966 due to low passenger usage.

The Island Railway runs from Ryde Pier, where the foot ferries from Portsmouth arrive, to Shanklin which is just over eight and a half miles away. The line itself is full of history as the line is really the only working line on the Island and is just a fraction of what is left of the originals rail network the Island used to have, the rest having been closed for a number of years earlier due to the fact the car was a more popular means of transport or the infrastructure falling into disrepair with a high cost involved to make good again.

Unfortunately this is the main problem with the whole line itself. The station that we got on the train was Ryde Esplanade. I can understand that the Station is exposed to the elements from the Solent, but generally I thought the building itself is in a pretty bad state, as you walk through to the Platforms there is a lingering smell that one can only associate with the lavatory with the place looking shabby overall. Personally as this is a viable tourist attraction the look of the Station in my mind could be bettered as this is the first thing that passengers would see. It looks like this station as well as the other buildings have been stuck in a time-warp. The booking office, where you go to purchase tickets, is very presentable and the small sized retail unit's seem to have a job on their hands to attract people which I thought was a shame as they were quite empty for a lunchtime period. Again I could be wrong with this perception; unfortunately this is how it looked from a visitor's point of view.

The conditions of the trains on the outside are very good and I know from other people that they are well looked after in the St Johns Road Depot considering the parts required to repair any issues are virtually non-existent, the interior didn't strike me as exceptionally dirty at all as this was no different really than what I'm used to anyway, but the ride itself down to Shanklin was not that good in parts. After all I'm used to riding on the Tube as I do it every day to get to work, but the continuous lateral movement started to make us feel seasick as the motion was bumpy rather than the an even ride which to me signalled track bedding issues. One thing I do have to say is that the feeling of travelling on a Tube train outside of London where you are effectively at the seaside was a little disorientating to say the least as I was continuously looking out the window to gauge where I actually was.

So far I was not impressed. One thing I did notice is that the trains were running almost empty as people who had arrived by foot Ferry had arranged to be picked up by car from the Terminal and therefore did not require to use the Railway at all. Even when we boarded at Ryde, there weren't many on the train at all. Our tickets were never checked either and whether this meant that there weren't any Inspectors I don't know as we never saw any at the times we travelled, which really annoyed me due to the fact that given I could have got away without buying a ticket told me that loss of revenue could be quite high.

The next thing was the timetable; most of the track is single line. This is where the problems really start as this means that two trains cannot pass each other until they either reach a certain Station with a passing loop or a second Platform. This meant a wait of over 40 minutes between trains. In hindsight this was so that the trains can get to a certain area and allow the other train to take the track that had just been made available. So compare this with a car journey from Ryde to Shanklin which we clocked at 20 minutes and the journey by train is the same, but can easily take double that straight off if you're not aware of the train times. The gaps between the trains are 18 and 42 minutes which I don't think is not really giving a good service at all, again this is due to the single track with an hourly service in the evenings.

Perhaps a good thing for the Isle of Wight Steam Railway is that the Island Railway meets up at a new station opened in 1991 called Smallbrook Junction, this means that an interchange is available. However this is only a one off and is only open when the Steam Trains are running. Okay you have the Bus Station at Ryde Esplanade as well as the Hovercraft to Southsea as well, but this is by no means an integrated system that allows access to other means of transport. So I found that the whole network is really cut off from other areas that could help increase passenger usage. Buses which are run by Southern Vectis serve the Esplanade very well but in some cases don't go any nearer than quarter of a mile from some stations.

The one competitive thing is the prices; the return price to Shanklin was £3.60 which I didn't think was bad considering the price on the bus would have been £2.80 each way unless we had a travel card for the period we were o the Island itself.

Not sure about the future of the Island Railway at all, the system has been diminishing over the last thirty years as a whole and seems to devolve further every couple of decades. All it needs is a strong investment to it and it could start to climb the hill to being something the local community relies upon again rather than being the quarter full attraction it seems to be at the moment. With a somewhat less than impressive Station portfolio to its name it seems like this would be the opportune time for South West Trains to make an investment in the system to entice car users off the road. After travelling the full length, it's not as if it doesn't go anywhere as it effectively runs parallel to the A3055. When I drove the A3055 it appeared to be main road linking all areas from the North-East to the Southern areas of the Island itself.

Overall I was pretty disappointed with this and can only summarise this up by saying that South West Trains are missing a trick with this railway. It seems to be totally underfunded and requires new life bought to it by means of modernisation and whether that's done by bringing in newer stock, laying more track and improving the environment around the buildings, then it is something that I'm really having problems seeing why this isn't being acted upon as this is a no brainer business solution that the Island Railway would strongly benefit from. Perhaps one solution is to just convert the whole thing to a Tramway and have done with it.

I'm having trouble with deciding whether I would recommend this, to be quite honest I don't think I would as it seems everything else is capitalising from the fact that the Railway doesn't give a positive portrayal to Island Tourism and doesn't do the Island image any favours neither.

Summary: A little line with a lot of history, a real waste of opportunities.