‘The buck stops with Grayling’ over rail chaos

The rail industry “failed the passengers it serves” during the chaotic introduction of a new timetable, Chris Grayling said yesterday.

The Transport Secretary said there had been “wholly unsatisfactory levels of disruption” on Northern and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) services and blamed Network Rail’s System Operator division, which is responsible for timetables and ensuring that changes are “workable”.

Rachael Maskell, Labour’s shadow rail minister, said: “Chris Grayling can’t wash his hands of this chaos by blaming the ‘rail industry’. The buck stops with him.”