A critical year for hs2’s prospects beyond birmingham

In a quiet corner of rural East Sussex, a railway is rising like a phoenix. What had once seemed like a pipe dream is rapidly becoming reality, with the link from Bodiam on the Kent & East Sussex Railway to the main line at Robertsbridge – one of the biggest projects happening in preservation right now – scheduled to open in 2028. THOMAS BRIGHT finds out more.

This year Direct Rail Services (DRS) celebrates 30 years of operating trains, and from an initial fleet of just five refurbished Class 20s it has grown and diversified during those three decades. DRS

At the time of writing, the western world has been thrown into some disarray by the radical policies of President Donald Trump. Although the United States twice came to the rescue of a valiant Britain