Tunnel vision sums it up

ONE trouble-spot in North London summed up a rail system in disarray.

Passengers on trains nearing a new tunnel near Finsbury Park had to wait as their service stopped at the nearest platform.

The reason was that some of the drivers on Thameslink and Great Northern services through the capital were not trained to go through the tunnel.

This meant they had to swap in the middle of journeys to allow a colleague who was trained to take over. Because rail operators has been presented with the new timetable from Network Rail at such short notice, they had not been able to train enough drivers on new routes.

The result was a shortage of staff and cancellations. In the weeks following the new timetable, Govia Thameslink Railway, which includes Thameslink, Great Northern and Southern, axed around 70 of its 3,880 daily services.