Strikes were ‘primary cause’ of failings but says all elements of system were under strain, report rail network says

Southern rail was attempting to run too many trains on poor and unreliable infrastructure, a delayed report into the crisis on Britain’s worst-performing rail network shows.

The government-commissioned report by the Network Rail director, Chris Gibb, pins strike action by unions as “the primary cause for system integrity to fail” in 2016.

It also said, however, that “all the elements of the system have been under strain”, including unreliable infrastructure, a complicated timetable and overcrowded stations and services.

The report suggested the promises of Govia Thameslink Railway, which won the franchise with the cheapest offer, were unlikely to succeed given an “exceptionally high number of committed obligations” and a lack of staff to do the job during a period of major upheaval to other parts of the network.

“The system cannot possibly work to passengers’ satisfaction with these components in this state.,” it said.

Ministers have kept the report by Gibb, a longstanding railway professional brought in to resolve the problems on Southern, under wraps for six months.

Gibb endorsed government criticism of union action, which he said was “difficult to comprehend”. “Before this formal action, there were clearly unusually high levels of short-term sickness,” he added.

He also highlighed flaws in the government’s franchising process, noting that GTR won with the cheapest offer after the Department for Transport told rivals their bid had “too many drivers”.

At parliamentary hearings last year, GTR bosses admitted they were surprised by how few drivers they had when they took over the running of Southern. Gibb wrote: “It may have been the case that the bidder with the fewest drivers won, and the process failed to accurately evaluate the risks of this.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A commuter protesting during a previous strike. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The report urged ministers to find an immediate extra £300m to replace worn-out infrastructure or face an embarrassing end to one of its flagship rail programmes. He said that unless money was spent immediately, the Thameslink upgrade – which has caused years of disruption during the redevelopment of London Bridge and Blackfriars stations in the promise of more capacity for commuters – would only be able to deliver 12 instead of the promised 24 trains an hour on completion in 2018. The DfT subsequently found the money in January.

Gibb suggested that parts of Southern would be better operated by Transport for London – an anathema to the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, who blocked plans by his predecessor for parts of national rail franchises to come under Labour-run London control.

Campaigners have accused the Department for Transport of suppressing the report, which was submitted in December and was believed to be ready for publication in early April. A DfT spokesman said the report was very technical , had needed to be assessed by a number of bodies and had been published “as soon as practically possible” after the general election.

Gibb catalogued a list of “best-intentioned” factors that combined to make GTR’s franchise unworkable once the issues were magnified by industrial action. These included the Thameslink upgrade works, GTR extending driver-only operation of trains, the procurement of new trains, too few drivers, management changes, Network Rail’s own strained budget, rapid passenger growth and a timetable that strained the system and relied on train depots in the wrong place. He wrote: “Some elements of the system have been considered largely as an afterthought, such as Victoria [station].”

He considered whether the franchise should be stripped from GTR but said it could further delay Thameslink improvements. In a phrase that lays bare the involvement of ministers, often officially denied, in the battle between unions and GTR, Gibb wrote: “Whilst you are already determining the strategic direction of this dispute, the introduction of a state-owned and governed operator would mean that every aspect of the dispute would fall under the direction of the secretary of state.”

The report also recommends that the Gatwick Express system be overhauled to free up space, and Gibb admitted what many airport users and rail passengers have concluded: “It is debatable whether a premium fare can be justified for Gatwick Express services.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “Chris Gibb’s report sets out the reasons why the Southern rail system faced so many problems last year. But it finds the main cause of widespread disruption was union action and unusually high levels of sick leave.

“The report makes absolutely clear that passengers would have had reliable services had staff come to work as normal despite the other challenges faced by the network.”

He added that Southern’s performance had significantly improved since December and more services were running on time.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Commuters during a previous train strike. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

Anthony Smith, the chief executive of the transport users’ watchdog, Transport Focus, said all of the problems identified still remained to some degree. “Passengers will now want some questions answered. Who is now in charge? What is the recovery plan? And what are the realistic prospects for improved performance in 2018?

“Passengers will also want reassurance from the government that the lessons learned from this episode are understood and acted on in future planning, projects and franchises.”

The RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, accused the government of spinning the report as an attack on unions. “The fight for safety and access to services on Southern rail goes on,” he said. “Chris Grayling can cut and paste Gibb however he likes to try and prop up the basket-case GTR operation, but the passengers forking out thousands of pounds a year for Britain’s worst rail service won’t buy it.”

Emily Yates of the Association of British Commuters said: “We’re happy the report is finally published after pushing for six months for it. We need to examine the findings carefully, but it points to a complete lack of joined-up thinking in running the GTR franchise and the railway.”

Southern drivers are to be balloted for strikes over pay, threatening disruption at the start of the school holidays. Aslef members are due to start an overtime ban on 29 June, which will disrupt many services for Southern’s 300,000 passengers, but an all-out strike would stop trains completely.

Southern said a five-year pay deal it had offered worth more than 23% would be withdrawn if the overtime ban went ahead.

“This ballot is a real chance for drivers to end this dispute by showing they want to accept the 23.8% pay offer and work with us to modernise the congested Southern network,” a spokesman said.

Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, has called for the company to be stripped of its franchise, and hit out at GTR for linking a pay deal with separate talks on driver-only operation, which Aslef says is a safety issue.