On Saturday, 8 April 2017 09:35:32 UTC+1, Recliner wrote:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/troubled-southern-should-hand-over-services-st3ls9frk

Extract:

A suppressed report into a series of problems at Britain’s biggest rail
operator will call for the company to be cut back, The Times has learnt.

The review of Southern Rail will suggest moving some services to other
operators to force its parent company to focus on London commuter routes.

It will stop far short of demanding the full break-up or renationalisation
of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) but acknowledge that “practical steps”
must be taken to reduce the size and scope of the franchise.


If those headline excerpts are correct then it seems a rather odd report. If trains are running overnight that is presumably because the DfT specified them. Blame the people who wrote the spec not the operator. Overnight Thameslink services have run for many years have they not to serve the airports on the route?

As for there being "problems" then why is anyone surprised? It is a management contract for a reason - risk! Introducing new infrastructure and new rolling stock is not risk free. Yes there have been some very unfortunate mistakes and errors made in respect of train service planning and operation at London Bridge but that appears to have resolved itself. No one should be shocked that the new class 700s are having issues - all new stock does. The industry knows this and should perhaps have used a different approach to bedding the trains in but you still have to accept that you will get in service failures.

The staffing / IR issues are partly an inheritance from FCC days and partly the result of the demands of the DfT via the franchise terms. Yes it's a mess but this is a government mandated and supported dispute despite Mr Grayling's "I can't do anything" protestations.

As for splitting up the franchise then that is very unlikely. The obvious candidates are splitting off inner area services (non Thameslink) and allowing TfL to tender the contracts. However that won't happen while Grayling is at the DfT so I expect the GTR structure will persist through to 2021. The only real crunch point is if the new timetables in 2018 prove to be a complete disaster and then there will be monumental pressure GTR and DfT to "do something". Until then I think GTR will be left to get on with it.

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Paul C
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