Chris Grayling: Rail industry failed passengers over timetable changes
2 min read
Chris Grayling today admitted the rail industry had “collectively failed” passengers after a major timetable revamp caused chaos.
The Transport Secretary said services on Govia Thameslink Railway and Northern - both of which had to cancel scores of services this month - were “wholly unsatisfactory”.
He also criticised government-run Network Rail and said: “The way timetabling is done has to change.”
Commuters have been suffering their second week of disruption after schedules changed on 20 May - with countless delays and cancellations.
In a letter to MPs, Mr Grayling said: "We were aware there might be some disruption in the early stages of any new timetable change but the scale of the problem has far outstripped any expectation."
And he added: “The industry collectively has failed the passengers it serves…
“A combination of delayed Network Rail infrastructure works and reduced planning time meant that the new timetable was finalised much too late to permit adequate logistical planning for the timetable changes.”
But Shadow Rail Minister Rachel Maskell laid the blame directly at the door of the Transport Secretary.
“Rail services across the country are in meltdown as a result of Chris Grayling’s complete failure to prepare for the transition to a new national railway timetable,” she fumed.
“Chris Grayling can’t wash his hands of this chaos by blaming the ‘rail industry’. The buck stops with him.
"It was him who awarded contracts to incompetent train companies and it was him who propped up a failed and unpopular system of rail privatisation.”
Mr Grayling already suffered major embarrassment earlier this month when he announced the Government would temporarily take the East Coast Mainline back into public ownership after problems with the contract.
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