No 43: so that's why trains go bump in the night?

A weekly chronicle of the absurdities caused by the Government's privatisation programme; True stories from the Great Railway Disaster

PEOPLE living next to the rail line in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, have been wondering why they are being woken up by "ghost trains" clattering at high speed through the town during the wee small hours on a previously sleepy line that runs along the Sussex Coast between Hastings and Eastbourne.

The answer, local resident Richard Madge has discovered, lies in rail privatisation. Until 1994 Hastings had two train depots, St Leonards and Ore, which together serviced all rolling stock for local trains. Now the depot at Ore is closed and lies unused.

Under the scheme created for privatisation, local train services are now run by two companies. The South Eastern train operating company runs the main service from Hastings to London via Tunbridge Wells, while the alternative, via Bexhill, Eastbourne and Gatwick, is run by Network SouthCentral.

Under the new system, the depot at St Leonards is now leased exclusively to SouthEastern, while the nearest Network SouthCentral depot is at Eastbourne.

The trains needed to run the Network SouthCentral service therefore have to run empty along the 19 miles of track between the two towns at the beginning and end of each day - providing a free and unwanted alarm service for the Bexhill residents.

Examples of railway folly should be sent in envelopes marked "Mad" to:

Christian Wolmar, Independent on Sunday, 1 Canada Square, London E14 5DL.