This month I had a meeting with Network Rail, Govia Thameslink Railway, the Rail Minister, Claire Perry MP, official from the Department for Transport and 20 very angry MPs. I have to say that it was absolutely woeful. We heard a lot of excuses that frankly are just not good enough.
This month I had a meeting with Network Rail, Govia Thameslink Railway, the Rail Minister, Claire Perry MP, officials from the Department for Transport and 20 very angry MPs. I have to say that it was absolutely woeful. We heard a lot of excuses that frankly are just not good enough.
Southern blamed their pitiful service on, amongst other things, the outdated infrastructure, which was first built in 1932. Whilst I am sympathetic toward this and appreciate that they are only 6 months into a 4 year infrastructure improvement plan, which will include the training of over 200 new drivers, the service they have been providing has been woeful.
Southern have the worst punctuality in the country, not to mention their trains, which have the unfortunate habit of suffering from near continuous technical problems. Often this is down to poor infrastructure, which is understandable, but what is not understandable is the lack of information being provided to passengers. For example, one of the primary complaints constituents have spoken to me about is the lack of quality communication between the Southern and the passengers informing them of train cancellations and the skipping of stations due to delayed running times.
I know my constituents who use Southern are sick and tired - and indeed have been for a good while - with the poor service. We made this clear to their representatives and to the Rail Minister, who must put more pressure on Southern to improve its service. If Southern do not step up the quality of their service, it may be time to look at taking the contract away and give it to a competitor that may be able to deliver a better service.
Find out what happened by watching the video above.