Rail chief admits timetable roll-out ‘has not gone well’

THE outgoing chief of beleaguered rail firm Govia Thameslink Railway has defended the franchisers responsible for the disastrous timetable overhaul, claiming it was “not the wrong plan”, but its execution had “not gone well”.

Charles Horton, who announced his resignation from the company on Friday, was last night grilled by the Commons Transport Select Committee as to how the major failings of the new timetable that was introduced on May 20 were allowed to happen.

Questioned by MPS over whether the franchising of the rail industry had been a good idea considering the current problems, Mr Horton defended the system saying: “Is it the wrong plan? No it’s not the wrong plan.”

He explained: “Ultimately the result I think for customers is going to be very good, we will see those new journey opportunities opening up, we will see that new capacity, we will see that improvement in the quality of services. The problem we’ve been dealing with is the execution of the timetable has not gone well.”

Mr Horton also revealed that despite the vast failings of GTR, he believed the company had met all its contractual obligations with Network Rail, adding that it was now up to them to decide if any penalty was going to be implemented.

The committee also heard from Nick Brown, the chief operating officer at GTR, that it was not until the evening of May 17 that rosters were deployed to local depots for drivers.

Last night it was revealed that Labour would today seek a “no confidence” motion against Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, for the failings of the timetable.