A rail union has called on the Government to make the Govia Thameslink (GTR) timetabling crisis a matter for the COBRA committee, arguing that stations are no longer safe.
The statement from TSSA follows the new timetable introduced this week by GTR, which TSSA said is ‘doing nothing to improve services nor is it alleviating the misery of GTR's beleaguered passengers and staff’.
The union has called for an immediate return to the pre-May 20 timetable as an interim solution and for Teresa May to refer the situation to the Government’s emergency management COBRA committee.
TSSA general secretary, Manuel Cortes, said: ‘Passengers are stranded at stations and squashed into trains. Overcrowding of carriages and platforms have escalated to seriously dangerous proportions for all concerned.
'Too many stations are no longer safe for passengers or staff. And as workers can't make it to work so our economy is haemorrhaging money.’
An ongoing survey of TSSA members working in GTR found so far that 94% have experienced passenger abuse due to frustration and 90% reporting their jobs are more difficult and anxiety at work has increased since the new time table changes came into effect.
TSSA said members are reporting stations are no longer safe work-spaces as passenger anger at the unreliability of the service turns into staff abuse.
Mr Cortes added: ‘The DfT has no grip on the situation and given people are failing to be transported on their public rail service, it is hard to see how the DfT is fit for purpose.
‘Transport Minister Chris Grayling has failed to respond to parliamentary demands for an answers to the crisis this week.’
Mr Cortes also said that stripping the GTR of its franchise and nationalising it is ‘the most viable solution’.
TSSA said it has also taken the ‘unusual interim step’ of referring the complaints to rail watchdog, Passenger Focus and to Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate while the survey remains live.
The survey, which still has two weeks left to run, also shows:
- Two thirds of staff admit to seeing incidents on the network that they consider unsafe, with several staff reporting feinting, overcrowding and overheating;
- Three quarters of staff responding feel less safe at work;
- 30% of staff don’t feel they have safe, secure and appropriate rest facilities at work.
Transport Network approached the DfT for a statement but it is yet to respond.
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