The Transport Select Committee has sharply criticised the Government for its management of rail franchise agreements, singling out its failure to take action over Southern Railway.
In a hard-hitting report, Improving the rail passenger experience, MPs say rail passengers have been badly let down by the Government's failure to structure, monitor and enforce franchise agreement, and the planning and management of major rail infrastructure projects.
Louise Ellman MP chairing the committee
MPs say that on parts of the rail network, ‘passengers struggle to get the service they deserve on a daily basis’.
They cite ‘lack of access for disabled passengers, overcrowding, delays, complex ticketing, poor deals for part-time commuters, a lack of timely information on delays and insufficiently informative updates available through websites and apps’ as adding to the misery of passengers.
The committee says evidence given to its inquiry was dominated by the problems faced by passengers of Southern operators Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) for more than a year, including ‘poor management of the franchise from the beginning [and] inadequate staffing’.
Committee chair Louise Ellman said: ‘While the number of passenger journeys on the railway has more than doubled over the last two decades, the size of the physical network has barely increased at all. Passengers now contribute more than 70% of the industry's real income, but in too many places, passengers are badly served by train operating companies.
‘The individual voices of customers suffering woeful service on Southern Railway, in particular, came through loud and clear during our inquiry. GTR, RMT and the Government are all culpable to some extent for the prolonged dispute and passengers have borne the brunt.'
Ms Ellman welcomed the Government’s announcement on Thursday (13 October) of an enhanced rail compensation scheme allowing passengers to claim if their train is more than 15 minutes late, beginning with GTR. She said: ‘Now ministers need to be more hands-on with monitoring franchises, and sort out the Southern Railway mess in particular.’
The report says the proportion of GTR services cancelled is now ‘substantially in excess of’ the default level, which would normally be grounds for termination of the contract.
However GTR has made claims for force majeure - which would revise its contractual benchmarks due to events beyond their control - but these have not been assessed because of GTR's 'tardiness' in supplying the necessary information.
The committee says the Department for Transport’s (DfT) claim that no other operator could do a better job in the circumstances ‘is no longer credible’. It says that if GTR is in default, the DfT ‘must take the opportunity to restructure or terminate the agreement and deliver services in a more effective way for passengers’.
MPs repeat complaints that their scrutiny of GTR's performance against its contractual obligations was impeded by the DfT’s failure to provide essential information and call for this to be made publicly available. MPs cast doubt on the value of the official passenger satisfaction measures, such as the Public Performance Measure (PPM).
Amongst a number of recommendations, MPs call for the PPM to be abandoned and for coordinated, industry-wide strategy to provide network-wide smart ticketing by April 2017
GTR, chief executive Charles Horton admitted that the company had ‘not got everything right in the past two years’ but said it had ‘co-operated fully with what’s been asked of us’ in relation to its claims for force majeure.
Register now for full access
Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.
Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors.
Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.
Already a registered? Login
