Rail commuter fury as firm in safety row axes 350 trains a day: Passengers hit out at decision to implement emergency timetable following dispute over the role of conductors
- Commuters hit out at plans by Southern Railway to cancel 350 trains a day
- The embattled company accused unions of making ‘bogus’ safety claims
- It's locked in a bitter row with unions over changes to the role of conductors
- Now been given green light by Government to adopt an emergency timetable
Commuters
hit out at Southern Railway’s plan to cancel up to 350 trains a day as
the firm accused unions of making ‘bogus’ safety claims.
The
embattled company – which is locked in a bitter row with unions over
changes to the role of conductors – has been given the green light by
the Government to adopt an emergency timetable.
Services
at risk include Clapham Junction to Milton Keynes, Tonbridge to
Redhill, Littlehampton to Portsmouth and Southsea, plus Brighton to
Southampton and Seaford.
But
Peter Kyle, the Labour MP for Hove, told the Commons the ‘shambles has
turned into a crisis’. He said constituents were receiving written
warnings from their bosses after repeatedly turning up late for work.
Govia
Thameslink Railway, which owns Southern, blamed the chaos on a ‘sickie’
strike – a surge in conductors calling in sick since unions staged the
first of four days of action in April.
It claimed the new timetable will give passengers a ‘more predictable service they can plan around’.
But
this received short shrift from exasperated commuters who say fewer
trains will be more crowded, with passengers less likely to receive
‘delay repay’ payouts. Only last week David Cameron promised more
generous compensation, saying that Southern’s performance was
‘unacceptable’.
Another
MP called for Govia to be stripped of its franchise and called the
company ‘incompetent’ with hundreds of thousands of commuters enduring
months of delays and cancellations on popular routes between London and
the Sussex coast.
The
long-running row with unions stems from Southern’s plans to change the
role of conductors. It wants to switch responsibility for opening and
closing train doors to the drivers. A driver-only operation means trains
can still run when no guard is available.
Govia
has promised no job losses or salary cuts as a result of the changes.
But the Rail, Maritime and Transport union claims the move jeopardises
passenger safety. Govia says that is scaremongering. A report last month
by the independent Rail Safety and Standards Board found driver-only
trains pose ‘no increased risk’ compared with trains which rely on
conductors to close the doors.
A Govia spokesman said: ‘Claims that safety is at risk are
totally bogus. The independent rail safety body has said so and nearly
half our trains run without conductors already. This is a smokescreen
and the victims are Southern Rail passengers suffering from their
reckless and unnecessary strike action.’
Southern
even released figures showing guards are pulling 1,200 ‘sickies’ a
month – causing 83 trains a day to be cancelled. This compares with
fewer than five a day calling in sick before the first strike was held
on 26 April.
The number of conductors calling in sick has almost doubled over the period from 26 a day to 40.
The
RMT accused Southern of ‘lying’ to passengers and blasted the revised
timetable, saying the firm employed too few staff and relied on overtime
working.
Critics
also said Southern’s problems pre-date the row. Network Rail data on
punctuality and reliability scores Southern at 80.7 per cent average,
lower than any other franchise.
Despite this Southern’s boss David Brown received a £2.16million pay package last year after being handed a 10 per cent rise.
From the Southern website:
Routes with no Southern service
-
No service between Milton Keynes Central and East Croydon
Tickets will be accepted on London Midland services between Milton Keynes Central, Watford Junction (and on to London Euston); London Overground services between Watford Junction and Willesden Junction and London Overground services between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction. London Midland and London Overground services will operate to a normal Monday to Friday timetable. Alternative Southern services will operate between Clapham Junction and East Croydon. Only tickets routed via London will be accepted on the Underground.
-
No service between Guildford and Leatherhead (this service normally operates during the peak only)
Tickets will be accepted on South West Trains service to and from London Waterloo via Leatherhead which will operate to a normal Monday to Friday timetable. Change at Sutton for alternative Southern services to/from London Bridge.
-
No service between Sutton and Streatham via Wimbledon (this service normally operates during the peak only)
Tickets will be accepted on Thameslink services to and from London Blackfriars which will operate to a normal Monday to Friday timetable. Change at Streatham for alternative Southern services to London Bridge.
-
No service between London Bridge and Beckenham Junction
Please use alternative Southern, Tramlink, London Overground and Southeastern services to complete your journey. Southern tickets will also be accepted on local buses between West Norwood and Tulse Hill and between Crystal Palace, Birkbeck and Beckenham Junction.
- Gatwick Express services: Services will operate to a revised timetable. The frequency between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport will not be every 15 minutes, with larger gaps between trains at certain times of day. Gatwick Express services between London Victoria and Brighton are also subject to alteration.
- Services between Reigate / Tonbridge and Redhill, London Victoria / London Bridge: These services will operate between Reigate/Tonbridge and Redhill only for much of the day. Certain peak trains will continue to operate to and from London.
-
Services between Redhill and London:
There will be fewer services overall between London and Redhill. There will be no daytime direct services between Redhill and London Victoria. Please change at East Croydon at off-peak times. -
Services between Hastings and Ashford International
A number of services between Hastings and Ashford International will not operate. Buses will operate at certain times of the day. -
Services between Brighton and Seaford
A very limited service through service will operate at peak times only. Alternative Southern services operate between Brighton and Lewes. Replacement buses will also operate between Lewes and Seaford. - Services between Brighton, Hove, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis, Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton Central (Coastway West service): A revised service will operate. A change of trains may be required for certain journeys. Some stations will be served by buses at certain times of the day.
Other
routes are expected to operate a normal timetable, but may be busier
and there may be some alterations. You are advised to check your journey
on any Gatwick Express or Southern route before travelling.
Timetables
are expected to be uploaded to journey planners shortly, however the
normal service is currently showing.. Until this time the normal service
timetable will be shown on
nationalrail.co.uk our ‘buy tickets’ widget and other journey planners. The latest timetable pdf will be available on our web site.
We
plan to operate the normal service on Saturdays and Sundays (subject to
any engineering work taking place); however please continue to check
our live running page for the latest information.
We
will upload the revised timetable to journey planners as soon as
possible. Until this time the normal service timetable will be shown on nationalrail.co.uk our ‘buy tickets’ widget and other journey
planners. The latest information on when the revised timetable will be
available in journey planners is shown above.
We
are introducing the revised timetable because we believe we will be
able to deliver it more reliably. However, disruption can still be
caused by signal failures, train faults and other issues so please check
our live running page before travelling for the latest information.
While
the amended timetable is in place, we will ensure that trains are
formed of extra carriages where possible. Platform lengths at certain
stations and other physical constraints will limit the length of some
trains.
Where
possible we will arrange ticket acceptance on routes where a reduced
train service is operating. Details of those currently in place are
available on our live running page
Any
tickets that are normally valid on other routes (such as Oyster on the
Underground) will continue to be valid as usual, however, 'route Ken
Olympia', 'route London Terminals' and tickets without the Underground
included cannot be used on LondonUnderground services. Southern tickets
will also be accepted as part of any reasonable journey on the
following operators while the revised timetable is in force:
- Tramlink
- Great Western Railway
- London Midland
- London Overground
- London Underground (this includes journeys between London Victoria, London Blackfriars and London Bridge)
- South West Trains (for local journeys between Southampton, Portsmouth and Havant and for journeys between Guildford and London Waterloo via Leatherhead)
- Southeastern (Southern tickets will not be accepted on High Speed services)
- Thameslink
With summer allegedly with us the team is now and again taking time out to visit various locations. The West Country is one place and a selection of buses and coaches have been placed into an album which can be viewed by clicking here
