Train operator is set to slash more than 340 services

Southern Rail has announced that 341 services will be cancelled from Monday due to staff shortages and continued disruptions.

Services affected include those going through Ashford and Tonbridge.

The amended timetable is initially planned to run for four weeks.

The franchise currently runs 2,242 services each day during the week.

Train cancellations have been a problem for Southern for months, with disputes with staff over the potential implementation of more driver-onlyoperated services.

Currently, about 40% of services run by Southern are driveronly-operated.

This means drivers are in charge of checking CCTV in the carriages to ensure passengers are clear of the doors before closing them.

The company is believed to be cancelling more than five times as many trains as the next-worst provider.

Off-peak services between Redhill and Tonbridge will be reduced on the new timetable.

Through trains to Victoria will not run, so trains will shuttle between Tonbridge and Reigate and passengers on the Tonbridge route will have to change at Redhill to get to London.

The East Coastway line has no reduction at peak times, but the Rye and Ashford shuttles will be removed at peak times and replaced with buses.

Extra stops are being added to Brighton to Ashford services to cover Falmer due to services from Seaford being withdrawn.

Representatives from RMT and GTR attended a Parliamentary Select Committee meeting this week to discuss the recent performance of the rail franchise.

Louise Ellman MP, chairman of the Transport Select Committee, said: “It is clear that the current situation is totally unacceptable and you only have to look at the number of delays and cancellations, and the impact these have on passengers, to realise that these problems need to be addressed immediately.”

Kent County Council has also written to train operator Southern about its “appalling level of service”.

In a letter sent yesterday (Wednesday) to Southern’s chief executive Charles Horton, KCC’s cabinet member for environment and transport Matthew Balfour expressed “serious concern” over the introduction of the emergency timetable, saying that, while he did not support the strike action by the RMT union, he was growing “increasingly concerned at the appalling level of service provided by your company in recent weeks”.

‘It is clear that the current situation is totally unacceptable’

What do you think? Write to Kentish Express, 34-36 North Street, Ashford, TN24 8JR or email kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk