‘HIT SQUAD’ SENT IN TO HALT RAIL CHAOS
GRAYLING ORDERS EXPERTS TO ‘BANG HEADS’ AT SOUTHERN EXTRA STAFF AND £20M TO CUT DELAYS
A GOVERNMENT “hit squad” was sent into Southern Railway today to tackle the chaos suffered by its passengers.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling put one of the rail industry’s most experienced figures, Chris Gibb, in charge of a team of experts to investigate delays and cancellations.
It will have £20 million to spend on improvements, such as extra staffing at key stations and quicker upgrades of worn-out tracks.
The team will “bang heads” at both Southern and track operators Network Rail to force them to work together on problems rather than pass the buck.
Mr Grayling ordered: “I want the Southern network to be run by a team of people who work together to make sure that passengers get decent journeys and that problems are dealt with quickly.” Today’s measures include:
Appointing Mr Gibb, former chief operating officer at Virgin Trains and with 30 years’ service as a railwayman, to head the rescue team and work with Southern, the Transport Department and NR to identify “rapid improvements”.
Providing extra money totalling £20 million to fund new measures targeting the causes of breakdowns and delays — including £2 million on more rapid-response teams close
to hotspots to fix faults, £2.5 million on faster train maintenance, £800,000 for extra signal supervisors and £90,000 to prevent damage to bridges.
Drafting in extra staff to key stations, including East Croydon and Gatwick, to ensure trains leave on time.
A bigger voice for commuters, with a passenger representative joining the review board to ensure everyday travellers’ concerns are not ignored.
Writing exclusively in tonight’s Standard, Mr Grayling said the team will aim to raise standards and restore passenger confidence. It will compile a report this autumn, with improvements to be “implemented as quick as possible”.
The minister challenged rail unions, accusing them of “an organised campaign of disruption” on the network.
He said guards phoned in sick “in unprecedented numbers and at short notice”, heaping misery on passengers even on days when the “totally unnecessary strikes” were not taking place.
Accusing militant union officials of trying “desperately to cling to Seventies working practices”, he insisted: “We won’t get the service back to normal till the unions put passengers first.” The unions denied his accusation about phoning in sick. Southern this week announced that from Monday it will restore more than 100 services cancelled this summer, bringing a measure of relief to passengers.
But hundreds of RMT station staff are still considering a 24-hour strike and guards plan a 48-hour action.
Conditions for commuters using London Bridge improved with the opening of two-thirds of the new concourse but Southeastern passengers were then hit by delays of more than an hour due to signal and points breakdowns.
Mr Grayling admitted he could not fix problems overnight but said: “This review will suggest how we achieve a joined-up approach.
“We also need to get to grips with things that go wrong on this part of the network. That is why we are putting in place a scheme to tackle the cause of breakdowns that too often cause frustrating and damaging delays.
“I urge the industry, train operating company and unions to work together to improve services.” He said that as a daily commuter from his Epsom & Ewell constituenc y he understood travellers’ “pain” at enduring delays.