GTR & Network Rail have written to me to provide an update on the latest progress with the current service provision and customer information:
Apology
We know that the service we have been running is unacceptable and we understand how much hardship this has caused many people. We will be running national and local ads to apologise directly to passengers starting from next week as well as handing out leaflets at stations. To see the apology, please click here.
Interim timetable 15th July
We are working to introduce a more dependable interim weekday timetable, which will be put in place on the 15th July. This will prioritise peak trains, giving customers more certainty to plan journeys to and from work. Although there may be fewer off peak trains, these will be more stable and reliable than present ones.
We have some more work to do before sharing that plan with you, including the standard industry scrutiny process with Trade Unions, but hope to be in a position to provide you with further information in the very near future.
Current Weekday Services
PDF’s of the current timetables are available on our websites:
Thameslink – Click here
Great Northern – Click here
Southern – Click here
Gatwick Express – Click here
While we develop the interim July timetable, we continue to ask passengers to check online journey planners on the day of travel. We would be grateful if you could use your channels to help us encourage customers to use the online web form to claim for the compensations they might be entitled to if their journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more.
Information about how to claim DR is available online here.
Weekend services
Timetables for weekend services are available in PDF format from our websites. In addition to this, journey planners are being uploaded by 8pm the day before travel (e.g. Saturday’s timetable is available from Friday 8pm).
1st Class declassification – 29th June – 15th July
From today, Friday 29 June, first class will be declassified on all Thameslink and Great Northern services during peak journey times to create more space for passengers. This will continue until the interim timetable is implemented on 15 July which will prioritise peak hours services and reduce service gaps. The rear carriage of all 700 trains are already permanently declassified.
For the declassification, the peaks are defined as follows (based on when the service departs the station);
- The AM peak is from 6.30am to 9.30am
- The PM peak is from 4.00pm to 7.15pm
Passengers who hold a first class season ticket can claim individually for the journeys they have made, or claim for all affected journeys in a single application after the 15 July. A new form will be available then.
We appreciate that customers may already hold a Thameslink or Great Northern first class season ticket and they will be able to claim the difference in cost for journeys made where first class was declassified. This can be found by clicking this link.
Hot weather
With the ongoing hot weather, Network Rail has activated its ‘extreme weather action teams’ (EWATs) across the country. On very sunny days, rails in direct sunshine can be as much as 20 degrees centigrade above air temperature causing the steel to expand markedly and could, if not carefully monitored and action taken, buckle causing travel disruption.
Our engineers and specialist extreme weather teams are monitoring track-side temperatures and vulnerable locations and will, if necessary, introduce temporary speed restrictions during the hottest part of the day to keep trains running, albeit more slowly than normal.
For more information, please click here.
Other issues affecting service
These are the Key infrastructure issues that affected the service this week. We thought it would be useful for you to have the information to hand as you may receive enquiries about them.
- On Saturday 23 June Moorgate station was evacuated at 1648 following reports of smoke at the end of the platform – a train was also evacuated. The fire brigade attended and the station reopened at 17.29.
- On Monday 25 June several “track circuits” which tell the signaller where trains are on the network failed in the Potters Bar area at 1637. Fault teams attended several sites and were able to return the network for normal operation ay 1907.
- In the early hours of the morning of 26 June Moorgate station team reported that the platform lighting was on back-up power and was not bright enough for passengers to use safely. The cause was traced to an external power supply problem which was fixed by UK Power Networks shortly before 0900. An interim plan was in place while the repair work was carried out.
- On 22 June at 20.25 a train hit a person at Purley Oaks station causing severe delay Clean up was complete and lines open at 2210 but a passenger was taken ill on board a train at approximately 2200 which further delayed the full resumption of services.
Overcrowding
In this hot weather it can be particularly difficult for passengers if there is overcrowding on their train and at stations. We want to reassure you and our passengers that all our staff are trained to safely manage any situations of overcrowding. Each station has its own Local Incident Response plan, covering a range of scenarios including overcrowding.
All our staff are briefed and trained on the Local Incident Response Plan including new members of staff. Prior to the introduction of the new timetable in May, trials were undertaken at stations on the Thameslink and Great Northern routes to simulate overcrowding and incident plans were updated, where necessary. Since the introduction of the new timetable and the subsequent service issues we have faced, our safety team have been monitoring areas where overcrowding is potentially causing concerns and are working with individual station staff to manage this.
Short Forms
The demands of the driver route learning schedule impacts on our ability to make all the stock moves required to deliver every service at full length. Sadly this means effecting a balancing act between our capacity to run all the scheduled services and running them at full length. We are currently exhausting all driver diagrams possible to minimise cancellations during the week and to maintain the concurrent route learning schedule that will ultimately resolve the present difficulties. We are monitoring the number of services that consist of fewer carriages than normal and the trend is moving downwards.
InTouch
Your usual InTouch has been on hold while we are stabilising our service. Instead we are sending you regular updates as and when necessary. This will begin again very soon and any ideas for content or presentation will be welcomed.
We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience that has been caused to you and passengers. We will continue to provide regular updates, please get in touch if you need any further information in the meantime.