Rail timetables: Labour accuses Chris Grayling of being 'asleep at the wheel' amid travel chaos
'The industry remained of the view until the last moment that it would be able to deliver these changes,' says transport secretary
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Your support makes all the difference.The 5.15pm stopping train from Oxenholme to Windermere may be cancelled for the next two weeks, but the 5pm statement from the Epsom and Ewell MP was only a couple of minutes late.
At the start of an ill-tempered debate on the shambolic new rail timetables, Chris Grayling stated the obvious: that many passengers on the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Northern franchises “are receiving totally unsatisfactory levels of service”.
The transport secretary said: “Both Northern and GTR were not sufficiently prepared to manage a timetable change of this scale.
“On GTR’s Thameslink and Great Northern rail, the industry timetable developed by Network Rail was very late to be finalised.
“This meant train operators did not have time to plan crew schedules or complete crew training.”
Labour’s Hilary Benn said: “It’s quite clear the secretary of state had no idea of what was going on. The question is, why?”
Mr Grayling said: “The industry remained of the view until the last moment that it would be able to deliver these changes.
“As few as three weeks before the timetable was to be implemented, GTR informed me personally they were ready to implement the changes.”
Labour’s Lilian Greenwood, chair of the Transport Committee, said the Department for Transport had “signed off GTR’s unworkable timetable proposals in the face of Network Rail opposition”, and rejected proposals for the phased introduction of the new schedules.
In contrast to his fellow Brexiteer, Michael Gove, Mr Grayling invoked “experts” in his defence.
Mr Grayling said: “When you call in experts and they advise you to do one thing, it’s generally a good idea to listen to them.”
Outside the chamber, the RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, said: “This is just the usual stream of hot air, broken promises and buck passing that we have come to expect from Chris Grayling and no one believes a single word of it.
“I challenge the transport secretary to come and join some of my members at the sharp end facing abuse and threats while the services he is responsible for collapse into chaos.
“The only solution to the current shambles is to sack these useless private operators and return Britain’s rail services to public ownership.
“If there was a World Cup for total and abject failure they wouldn’t even bother having a tournament. They would just give Chris Grayling the trophy and send everyone else home.”
Back in the Commons, MPs took full advantage of the opportunity to demand improvements to their local services.
Henry Smith, the Tory member for Crawley, name-checked Three Bridges and Ifield, while Mohammad Yasin, Labour MP for Bedford, elicited a promise that something would be done to “ease the pressure on Bedford”.
Another Conservative, Maria Caulfield, set on a branch line from her constituency, Lewes, to Polegate, Seaford and Newhaven.
On a national level, Andy McDonald, the shadow transport secretary, accused Mr Grayling of being “asleep at the wheel”.
“The travelling public and the rail industry have no faith in this transport secretary to fix the situation.
“Were the prime minister not so enfeebled, she would sack him.
“If he had any concept of responsibility, he would resign.”
Mr Grayling’s consistent theme, though, was that the train operators were to blame. “Neither Northern nor GTR had a clear fallback plan.”
It remains to be seen if the transport secretary has one.
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