Go-Ahead says its performance is improving as rail earnings take a tumble

TRANSPORT GIANT Go-Ahead has insisted it is improving its performance, but warned over a blow to rail profits after annual results fell.

David Brown said the group had cut cancellations by 75 per cent and boosted train capacity by 36 per cent on some Southern lines despite ongoing industrial action.

He said he could not offer passengers “guarantees” of an end to strikes, but was “resolute on trying to improve performance on Southern and put all this behind us”.

Go-Ahead – which runs Southern through its Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) joint venture with French firm Keolis – posted a 5.7 per cent drop in pre-tax profits to £136.8m for the year to July 1.

Rail earnings tumbled by 16 per cent to £59.9m, with the ongoing industrial action and service woes on Southern seeing GTR suffer a 3.9 per cent drop in passenger journeys and a 4.1 per cent drop in revenues.

The group also warned rail profits would remain under pressure in the new financial year after losing the London Midland rail contract, as well as a drop in passengers at Southeastern amid a wider slowdown in the economy.

Mr Brown said the past year had seen “challenging market and trading conditions” in its rail and bus businesses.

He said: “We apologise to our Southern passengers who have been inconvenienced for many months by disruption caused by industrial relations issues.

“Service levels are beginning to improve but there is still a lot of work to be done to provide the level of service we and our customers expect.”

Southern was ordered to pay for a £13.4m package of improvements by the Government in July, which will see it fund 50 non-board supervisors and other projects to boost service levels.

The firm has been in a bitter row with unions over proposals for so-called driver-only operated trains.