by Martin Jefferies

A new administration would sort out issues faced by Kent commuters since the launch of the high speed rail service through the county.

That's according to North Thanet and Herne Bay MP Roger Gale who was involved in a debate on the issue in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.

He told the KM Group he raised passengers' concerns about slow running and less frequent trains, but fears nothing will be done until after the election.

He said: "The quick fix would be to at least recognise the misery of travelling passengers and reduce fares. But that's not passengers what want, they want a proper service and a restoration of services to Cannon Street, Charing Cross, London Bridge and Victoria.

"They want to get back something they've lost."

It comes after changes to Kent's rail timetable in December followed the introduction of high speed trains.

The railway company has laid the blame for commuters' anger at the door of the Department for Transport, and Roger Gale, the MP for North Thanet and Herne Bay, secured an adjournment debate at Westminster yesterday afternoon.

He addressed the House and was entitled to a response by Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis.

However, following the debate he said he was disappointed with the Government's reaction.

He told the KM group: "I think the message was put across; I quoted from 31 sources and effectively did a journey up the line from Margate to the Medway Towns and then across to Dover, Folkestone, Canterbury and its villages. But I got the feeling that the Minister wasn't totally interested.

"There were great contributions from [MPs] Hugh Robertson, Gwyn Prosser and Julian Brazier and we all basically said the same thing and the Conservative front bench laid the blame at the Minister's door.

"I think that the constituents that bothered to come to the debate, and there were a number of them in the public gallery from across east Kent, not all my constituents, were disappointed in the manner in which the minister did not really reply to the debate.

"Of course the issue is not going to go away but it is not going to be solved by this minister or junior ministers - it will be solved by a new Government."

The debate followed complaints from passengers on the Kent Coast line that trains are slower, less frequent and more expensive since a new timetable was introduced.

More than 1,300 passengers have so far signed an online petition asking the Department for Transport (DfT) to address the 'abysmal service' they claim to have experienced since a new timetable was introduced last December.

They say that high speed services to London St Pancras run at 'near empty' levels during peak times, while services to London Victoria and London Cannon Street are overcrowded and stop unnecessarily at stations such as Longfield and Meopham.

Southeastern explained that services on the Kent Coast Line are governed by a service specification set out by the DfT, which controls where trains must stop and when services must run.

But a spokesman said: "We've been continually reviewing the new timetable and May will be the first opportunity to make minor changes to areas such as the length of trains and connection times at stations, to help improve the punctuality of the services."