Poor train service fuels MPs' fury at rail summit

Some passengers using Southern and Thameslink abandoned their journeys and went home while others reported being up to two hours late.

Bosses said services between Brighton and Three Bridges were delayed due to faults on the line, which mounted up to cripple services.

The delays came hours before rail chiefs faced a grilling from visibly angry politicians in Parliament.

Representatives from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – the company responsible for the Southern and Thameslink franchises – as well as Southeastern and maintenance body Network Rail were questioned yesterday in front of transport minister Claire Perry.

About 20 MPs whose constituencies are served by the operators attended the South East Quadrant Taskforce gathering. The Argus asked to attend the meeting but was denied access.

MPs including Peter Kyle (Hove), Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion) and Maria Caulfield (Lewes) voiced their concerns over ongoing problems including delayed services, engineering work, antiquated rolling stock and not enough drivers.

Both GTR and Network Rail reportedly promised improvements in 18 months.

Mr Kyle was among several MPs from across the political spectrum who called for the operator to be stripped of its franchise in six months if actual improvements had not been made.

He said: “We were made promises without any tangible metrics to be judged by. I simply do not believe a single word they say anymore. They have lost my trust.

“I demanded that they tell us exactly what will improve and when, not only so we can hold them to account but also so they can regain our trust.”

Ms Lucas said: “The time for excuses is over - if radical improvements are not made in six months, the minister should take back the franchise from GTR and run it as a directly operated railway, as they successfully did with the East Coast Mainline.”

Ms Lucas, with other MPs, urged rail bosses to rule out handing over any more dividends to shareholders – which totalled £25 million last year – until the service improves.

Mrs Caulfield added: “Coming back in six months to just talk about the problems is unacceptable.”

In a joint statement, GTR and Network Rail said: “We had a challenging but constructive meeting, listening to MPs and explaining what we are doing to improve services.

"We are working closely together to increase punctuality, with Network Rail making track, signalling and other systems more dependable and GTR bringing in new, more reliable trains this spring and still more drivers.

"Increased passenger demand and essential improvement work at London Bridge has made any problems that do occur on the Brighton main line up to four times more difficult to recover from, as there is simply less room for the huge number of trains we run every day.

"However, when this work is finished, our services will be transformed for passengers with greater connectivity and more capacity to, from and through the heart of London."

FURIOUS PASSENGERS BRAND THEIR NIGHTMARE RAIL COMMUTE A ‘JOKE’

Queues at Brighton Station on Monday morning

HANNAH Tyler got up for work as usual at 5.45am yesterday while it was still dark to get the train to East Croydon for her job as a retail buyer.

But after being embroiled in rail “mayhem” she was back home again by 8am because her train had to reverse back to Brighton.

Her usual service from Brighton station only travelled one stop to Preston Park when it ground to a halt.

Miss Tyler said: “Just after 7am there was an announcement saying, ‘Don’t shoot the messenger but we’re going back to Brighton’.

“Everyone was really frustrated. When we got back to Brighton, everyone was running around and it was chaos. It was just a nightmare.”

Miss Tyler had to call her boss to explain and was able to arrange to take a half-day holiday and partially work from home, which she wouldn’t normally do.

She added: “I have lost the value of my train fare and half a day’s wages. People just want a reliable service and communication is bad. It’s just mayhem.”

Katy Stoddard, a librarian working in King’s Cross, said she was “one of the lucky ones”.

She caught the 8am Brighton-Bedford Thameslink train, in the hope of getting to work for 9.40am. But the train left half an hour late and was busier and slower than normal, getting her to work for 11.15am.

She started commuting to London in September and paid £4,408 for her annual ticket.

She said: “I was one of the lucky ones to actually get a train by the looks of it.”

Trains were delayed between Three Bridges, Brighton, Hove and Lewes, and Crowborough and Oxted, until noon.

The problems started when signals failed inside Clayton tunnel near Burgess Hill at 4.30am.

It took two hours for engineers to diagnose the fault as a broken cable inside the tunnel with fewer trains running through the area. The line was closed completely for about half an hour from 7.30am to 8am while the repair was completed, with Southern and Thameslink services to and from Brighton diverted to Lewes.

There were delays of up to 45 minutes because of this signal failure with short notice alterations to services and cancellations.

Almost immediately after this, at about 8.15am, an important set of points, which allow trains to cross from one track to another just south of Three Bridges had a fault.

Most trains running on the Brighton main line need these points and delays quickly built up, exacerbating the already disrupted service northbound towards London.

The lines reopened at about 8.30am but at 8.50am the fault re-0occurred, blocking the lines again.

Engineers had the problem fixed by 9.25am but delays continued for some time as engineers manually guided trains past the affected signals.

There were similar issues north of Crowborough from 6.30am, leading to 20-minute delays for six hours.

There were also less severe signalling problems at Lewes, which the operator has said did not affect services.

Mid Sussex MP Nicholas Soames used Twitter to label the tunnel work “appallingly unacceptable”, adding: “Why not get it right?”

Govia Thameslink Railway and Network Rail apologised for the issues.

Lauren Macready, 24, lives in Brighton and works for a public relations agency in Soho.

She said: “It’s a complete joke given the fact prices went up just over a fortnight ago. Where did that extra money go? Clearly not on making the service more reliable.”

Her Thameslink service to London Bridge took an hour and ten minutes to get to Gatwick and in the end terminated at East Croydon, meaning she did not get to work until gone 11am.

She said: “It basically crawled all the way with multiple stops in the Balcombe area because of the failure.

“To add to the stress, they decided to terminate the train early so they could get it back to Brighton.

“Passengers on the train were stuffed on to an overcrowded service to Victoria.

“It’s going to take some time to shake this bad mood.”

Chris Daniels, 30, who lives in Hove, has been commuting to London Bridge for 18 months for a local government job.

He began philosophically: “It’s OK if it goes to plan but too often there are delays and on most return journeys you’re lucky to get a seat. so you have to stand for an hour. It’s pretty poor considering the £4,400-a-year cost.

“Argh! I’ve become one of those train moaners! I promised it wouldn’t happen, but it has.”

STRANDED AT STATION AS DELAYS STRIKE

AN MP’s day got off to a slow start when he was stranded at Brighton Station.

Simon Kirby, the Conservative MP for Brighton Kemptown, was late getting to London because of the mayhem at the station.

He was still stuck there at 10am while others were assembling in London for a day’s political bartering.

He said: “Brighton commuters and taxpayers are incredibly frustrated and unhappy with the service being provided.  “Even today [January 18], train services on the Brighton line suffered more disruption making it a very frustrating morning for all concerned.

“As a regular user of the Brighton to London line, I am well aware of the shortcomings of the service and the problems with lateness and cancellations that commuters have to deal with on an almost daily basis.

“I have been contacted by many unhappy constituents who have suffered disrupted journeys.

"I really do understand people’s anger and frustration although in fairness up until now we have seen decades of under investment.

"This is one of the busiest railways in Europe and it is clear that hard-working commuters expect and deserve better services.”