London mayor calls on Department for Transport to take over running of service amid ongoing delays and cancellations

The operator of Southern rail services should be stripped of the franchise over the “unceasing misery” inflicted on passengers, the London mayor has demanded.

But the transport secretary said rail unions were responsible for “disrupting passengers’ lives” in an “absurd” dispute, as the government continued to rule out taking over the franchise and running routes itself.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said he shared the outrage of passengers, some of whom staged a protest at London’s Victoria station on Monday after months of delays and cancellations on a service they have labelled “Southern fail”.



Operating company Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) introduced a reduced timetable on Monday, cutting 341 trains a day for a month to try to make services more “resilient”.

Although 15% of Southern services were cancelled in advance, one in six trains still ran late – and 10 services were cancelled on the day. Some cancellations were due to staff shortages, despite Southern rostering all available qualified managers as stand-in guards.

Khan said he was appalled at the “unceasing misery” being suffered by passengers and urged the Department for Transport to take over temporary responsibility for the franchise from GTR.

“Passengers are paying thousands of pounds for a service that, rather than being ‘turn up and go’, has become ‘turn up and hope’. Their frustration at such a disgraceful level of service is obvious and it is justified.”

The rail minister, Claire Perry, said GTR would not be able to bid for future franchises unless its performance improved. But Khan urged the government to go further.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A protester at Victoria station. Photograph: Matthew Chattle/Rex/Shutterstock

“This utter mess is now an embarrassment to our city; it is an insult to hard-working Londoners who pay their fares and it must be fixed. That is why I am calling on the government to strip Southern of its franchise and take over the temporary responsibility of running these services.”

He said that control of inner suburban rail services should be handed over swiftly to Transport for London. Currently those lines are expected to become part of London Overground in 2021 but Khan said his team was ready to speed up the handover.

But the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, blamed the current disruption on the RMT union. Claiming that he shared the fury of passengers, he said: “Most industrial disputes are about threats to employment or conditions so the RMT’s attitude is absurd. There is no threat to safety, no threat to jobs, no threat to pay and yet they continue disrupting passengers’ lives on a daily basis.”

He said the emergency timetable should not have been necessary, and added: “We are investing billions of pounds on this line – the work at London Bridge, the work at Victoria station, the brand new rolling stock.

“I’m really frustrated that, with all this money we’re investing, we’re being held back by the RMT who seem not to want to discuss the issue.”



Rail performance statistics show the service has declined steeply since GTR took over the Southern franchise last year. Passengers have complained about not getting home from work in time to spend time with their families, and others have claimed unreliable services have cost them their jobs.

The RMT said that every manager at Southern with the correct safety certification had been “press-ganged” into work as the train company launched its emergency timetable this week, a move it claimed proved the franchise was understaffed. It has blamed poor management for the disruption.

The RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, said: “This is crisis management that is simply out of control and the fact that the government are on the sidelines cheering this nonsense on is a national disgrace.

“RMT’s fight is with the company and their cheerleaders in government, and not with the travelling public whose anger and frustration we share. It’s time for ministers to start taking some responsibility for the chaos that is playing out on Britain’s biggest rail franchise.”

A Southern spokesman said: “We make no apology for using all qualified staff to allow us to run as many trains as possible during this period of high sickness amongst RMT members. Our passengers would expect nothing less, and we shall continue to do so when and where necessary.”

