I have received two very helpful letter from the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling MP, and the Rail Minister, Paul Maynard, respectively, following a round table meeting with them and other parliamentary colleagues, whose constituents are being terribly affected by Southern's abysmal service.
Both letters, which you can find attached below, help clarify a number of points, including how the £20m additional funds will be spent, the Government's position on the RMT strikes and the plans for sorting out this mess and resuming normal services.
Letter from the Secretary of State for Transport
In his letter, the Transport Secretary makes very clear "that the strikes, and the unofficial action [against Driver Only Operation (DOO) on Govia Thameslink Railways (GTR)] is wholly unnecessary." He also explains why the unions are wrong to use security and job losses to justify the strikes, as neither of their claims are correct. Indeed, he writes, "no one is losing their jobs or having their pay cut, and indeed my own view is that this network needs virtually all of its current staffing levels as roles become increasingly passenger facing." The current guards will remain on the trains, but in a slightly different role, helping passengers. Safety will not be compromised and staff will not lose their jobs.
However he accepts that the strikes are not solely to blame for the current poor service. He states that the relationship between the train operator and Network Rail, which runs the tracks, is not working well. To solve this, he has appointed Chris Gibb, who is one of the most experienced people in the rail industry, to make sure the two sides work together to sort problems our rather than blaming each other.
The Transport Secretary also mentions the Government's intention to bring forward plans shortly for improving compensation for passengers.
Letter from the Rail Minister
In his letter, the Rail Minister explains what the Government's £20m fund to improve performance on the Southern network will be spent on.
He lists the key priorities for the fund:
- £2m investment in additional rapid response teams, improving emergency response times and getting trains moving quicker when network issues arise
- £0.8m investment in additional signal supervisors
- £0.4m investment to speed up identification of causes of delay
- £1m investment in dispatch staff at key stations reducing delays
- £3.5m investment in tackling seasonal delays for vegetation management
- £2m on new track through old tunnels
- £0.9m investment in bridge strike prevention
- £2.5m investment in accelerated track maintenance
You can find attached a Q+A document answering various questions about Chris Gibb's appointment, the Project Board and the £20 fund.