THE LONG LINE OF FIASCOS

TWO-YEAR UNION DISPUTE

Commuters using Southern rail lines from the south coast into London have had two years of misery thanks to rows between operating firm Govia and the Aslef and RMT trade unions. The key issue involves scrapping guards and drivers have been offered basic salaries of £63,000 for a four-day week as a result. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of passengers have suffered delays and cancellations. Overtime bans for drivers resulted in a quarter of services axed in 2017, while strike days have hit since 2016.

MELTDOWN MONDAY

Two months ago rail travellers across Britain suffered ‘Meltdown Monday’ when Govia Thameslink Railway rescheduled every service on its Thameslink, Southern, and Great Northern services in the south. In the north on the same day, dozens of morning rush-hour trains in Blackpool, Preston and Bolton were cancelled or hugely delayed. Northern Rail blamed a driver shortage. EAST COAST RENATIONALISED Embarrassingly for all concerned, the East Coast mainline rail service between London and Edinburgh was renationalised in May. It was the third time in a decade the Government had been forced to withdraw the franchise for the route – this time as Stagecoach and Virgin were failing to deliver on their promises, and were unable to pay £3.3bn they owed the Government. The Government has always ridiculed Labour vows to renationalise the railways.