Rail disruption following new timetable – correspondence

08 June 2018

Unprecedented delays, confusion and cancellations have made life miserable in recent weeks for Thameslink and Northern passengers. Transport Focus warned about timetabling problems as long ago as last year.

We wrote to Secretary of State Chris Grayling to set out our detailed thoughts on the issue, ahead of our meeting with him on 4 July.

We wrote to the two operating companies this week (download the letters below) to reiterate that:
• passengers need stable timetables and reliable services
• they will expect compensation for poor service, measured against the original timetable promised, not the slimmed down one now on offer.

We also invited both companies to send a representative to special meetings of our Board, to be held in public in June 2018, to explain what has gone wrong and what steps are being made to mitigate the impact and restore services.

On 13 June we wrote again to Charles Horton of Thameslink (download below), to highlight problems with the running and communication of the revised timetable, and to press for a better compensation deal.