A passenger’s perspective on Southern’s troubles

Travelling on Southern has been pretty difficult for many months. A system that functioned very well for all the years I have known it no longer feels at all reliable.

To make any appointment means catching an earlier train, in case the one you want does not run. Very few services I have used in the last year or so have been on time. Many have been curtailed, or cancelled altogether.

It is becoming quite clear to all regular passengers that Southern is in a fight with its staff - both drivers and conductors. Almost every job is evolving these days, and many travellers are hard pressed to understand why conductors can’t envisage their role changing.

As for the drivers, and door openings and closings, this seems an incomprehensible argument. I have seen passengers tipped off a train at the stop before last, because the driver insisted on having a conductor aboard for a straightforward run of about a mile and a half.

And as for the new 12-coach formations being unsafe if the driver is solely responsible for door operation, why has Thameslink been run that way for a long time?

It seems clear to me that we hapless customers are caught between a train operating company being leant on by its paymaster (the Government) to force through changes in working practices, and trades unions who resist changes that must surely come.

Modern trains may be airconditioned, but the seats are cramped and so many of us have to stand for all or part of our journeys. We do not deserve to be treated so indifferently.