Stephen Metcalfe, local MP for South Basildon and East
Thurrock, organised a rail summit last Friday which has been hailed a great
success by all involved.
The summit brought together all those with an interest in
local rail issues including C2C, Network Rail, DP World London Gateway, and
local stakeholders including councillors and residents to try and tackle some
of the problems affecting the community.
All involved were supportive of the objectives and there
was consensus that there were a number of issues that need looking at.
The focus of the discussions rested largely on the need
for expansion at Stanford-Le-Hope station to both meet demand and ease
congestion and also on how to tackle congestion problems caused by the level crossing in East Tilbury.
Stephen Metcalfe commented:
“This was an extremely productive and constructive meeting. It was great to be
able to bring so many different local stakeholders together to really get to
grips with the problems affecting the local area and I think this will be the
start of a long process in which improvements will be made.”
“As I have said before, these
improvements will not happen overnight but we have made a start in addressing
the problems. We have all come away from the meeting with action points and I
look forward to hearing about they have been implemented at our next rail
summit planned for June.”
