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Leing train take the strain
FIGURES show a significant rise in the number of people using trains across the region. Latest statistics from the Office of
Rail and Road show sharp in- creases in journeys to and from all of the area’s stations for the year to March 2015, with only Yalding showing a dip in rail passengers. The data offers no suggestions
for the rise in rail use in our region, indicating only “local event traffic” as the possible reason for reversing the previous year’s decline at Bel- tring station – still the least used station in the area, with an average 37 commuters a day. In spite of the combined in- creases across Maidstone’s three town centre stations and at West Malling, the number of rail users still falls nearly a million short of Tonbridge station, which remains the busiest in the region, with more than four million users a year. The Estimates of Station Usage,
for all stations in Great Britain, is available on the ORR website at
www.orr.gov.uk/statistics/pub- lished-stats/station-usage-
DRIVERS need to take their feet off the gas when travelling on the M20 outside Maidstone. Speed cameras clicked a total
of 3,367 motorists exceeding the 70mph limit coastbound be- tween J4 near Leybourne and J7 near Bearsted in 2014, which helped make the borough the second most ticketed in Kent. With 1,160 tickets issued as a re- sult of camera action south- bound on the A249 Sittingbourne Road (Detling Hill), 933 southbound on Sutton Road towards Langley and 375 from cameras on the A20 Lon- don Road, the total number of tickets issued in Maidstone dur- ing the year was 5,800 – 1,200 more than in the previous year. The figures are inflated for Detling Hill as the southbound
safety camera was repaired at the end of 2013, so the statistics for 2014 represent a full year of operation and are not directly comparable with the previous year. Similarly, during 2013 cameras on part of the Maid- stone section of the M20 were not fully operational. Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partner- ship revealed the figures. Kent’s busiest speed camera
was at the Dartford Tunnel ap- proach, which clocked 7,637 ve- hicles. The M20 cameras were second busiest.
Easter debut for choral work
MAIDSTONE Choral Union is set- ting the scene for Easter with a special performance of Stainer’s “The Crucifixion”. The performance, on Saturday
March 12, at All Saints’ Church, Maidstone will be followed by a new work by composer David Pen- nant, Stainer’s great-grandson. “The Resurrection” sits comfort- ably in the same format as The
Crucifixion, with choruses for a choir, soloists’ passages (for the risen Christ and for Mary Mag- dalen) and hymns for the audi- ence. It will be the first public per-
formance of this interesting com- position, which is 35 minutes long. The evening begins at 7.30pm
and tickets can be purchased at the door.
estimates. Figures for other stations in our
region (with the previous year’s figure in brackets) include: Aylesford 115,906 (112,666) Barming 129,926 (127,656) Bearsted 396,840 (391,478) Beltring 13,502 (11,890) Headcorn 612,206 (607,386) Hollingbourne 46,554 (42,854) Lenham 108,194 (103,782) Maidstone East 1,358,356 (1,339,752) MaidstoneWest 843,268 (831,718) Maidstone Barracks 270,645 (266,938) Marden 480,498 (459,402) Staplehurst 888,016 (848,158) West Malling 782,090 (760,292) Yalding 21,604 (22,542) The estimates of station usage consist of the total number of peo- ple travelling to or from the station (entries and exits); and interchang- ing at the station. The figures are based on ticket
sales. Single and return tickets translate into one and two journeys respectively.
M20 cameras catch drivers Harrison Sapphire
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Malling February 2016 17
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