Thanks to Southern Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway CEO, Charles Horton, for showing me around the Network Rail Regional Operating Centre Three Bridges. It provided an insight into how they are dealing with punctuality problems. I then travelled to London Victoria Station in the cab of a train to understand the problems and challenges train drivers encounter.
During my visit, I raised a number of issues some of my constituents have written to me about, in particular how services miss out stations, such as Shoreham, yet communicate this to customers as a cancellation. Residents are irritated enough by their train being cancelled without having it speed past them to their destination.
It is clear from my visit to Three Bridges, as well as my own experiences and those of my constituents, that there is still a genuine lack of quality communication between SouthernRail and passengers informing them of train cancellations and the skipping of stations due to delayed running times.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.I know my constituents who use Southern are sick and tired - and indeed have been for a good while - with the poor service. In addition to the complaints I have received regarding regular disruption to service, I have also received correspondence from residents on the future of the manned ticket offices at Shoreham-by-Sea and Lancing, as well as the restoration of the subway at Shoreham-by-Sea station, the closure of which prevents the non-travelling public from crossing the road via the subway because of the location of the ticket barriers. The Shoreham Society organised a demonstration last weekend about this closure.In order to address all of these concerns, I have organised a public meeting with Southern managers on Thursday 17 March 2016 at 18:30 in the Council Chamber at the Shoreham Centre, 2 Pond Rd, Shoreham-by-Sea, BN43 5WU. If you are a commuter, fee free to drop-by after work (if your train gets in on time!)