Train passengers left stranded and ‘let down’ after ‘no one took charge’ of rail timetable chaos, damning report finds
The Department for Transport shares blame for thousands of cancellations and delays on Thameslink and Northern Rail in May, report finds
TRANSPORT Secretary Chris Grayling was last night accused of letting down rail passengers in a scathing review of this year’s timetabling chaos.
An official investigation said the Department for Transport had to take its share of the blame for the huge number of cancellations and delays on both Thameslink and Northern Rail.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said the DfT and industry “placed engineering and planning concerns ahead of serving its passengers”.
It added the DfT and its own teams had failed to challenge assurances from both rail operators about the risk of widespread disruption “despite having information and powers … to do so”.
The interim report from the regulator saved its biggest criticism for Network Rail – the government-funded organisation that runs the tracks.
But the findings will pile pressure on the Transport Secretary.
Thousands of trains were cancelled across Govia Thameslink Railway and Arriva Rail North this May after botched timetable changes.
At the time Chris Grayling blamed the rail industry for “failing passengers”.
In June he stunned MPs by declaring: “I don’t run railways.”
But ORR report said the time DfT officials took to make major decisions on new timetables and contingency plans fuelled the problems.
ORR and rail inquiry chair Stephen Glaister said: “The May 2018 timetable was meant to offer more services and reliability, but in reality it led to major disruption for passengers. Today’s report uncovers the issues that Network Rail, GTR, Northern, ORR and the DfT together need to address to stop this disruption happening again.
“Central to the issues were that good intentions and over-optimism within the rail industry about its ability to recover missed deadlines left no time to uncover and fix problems. When problems arose, timetable planners were stretched and train operators were ill-equipped to help passengers."
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