Chris Grayling faces fury of MPs over Northern Rail train chaos

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling faces fresh criticism today after he cancelled meetings with furious MPs to discuss rail cancellations.

MPs from all parties had arranged to meet the Cabinet Minister to talk about the disastrous overhaul of timetables on Northern Rail and Govia Thameslink today.

The botched shake-up, which came into force on May 20, saw hundreds of services delayed and cancelled – leaving commuters have been left unable to get to work.

And anger is boiling over after both operators introduced interim timetables this morning in a move which saw hundreds of services officially axed.

But Mr Grayling has been inundated with so many requests his office has started cancelling some meetings and pushing them all back until tonight.

Labour MP Lisa Nandy, whose Wigan constituency has been hit be Northern Rail cancellations, said: ‘The DfT did not foresee the large numbers of MPs who would want a meeting, or that they might need to make a statement. 

‘Is there any understanding of the scale of this crisis in Whitehall?’  

The PM’s spokesman said the crisis is ‘totally unacceptable’ and Northern Rail said passengers will be given compensation amid growing anger at the chaos.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is set to face the fury of MPs as he is grilled over the disastrous overhaul of Northern Rail train timetables (file pic)

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Labour MP Lisa Nandy said the chaos on the tracks was wreaking havoc.

Tory MP Bim Afolami , who represents Hitcham and Harpenden in Hertfordshire - where Govia Thameslink Trains have been hit by repeated cancellations - said urgent action must be taken

Labour MP Lisa Nandy (pictured left) is among a delegation of MPs who will meet with Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to vent the fury of commuters at chaos on the trains. Tory MP Bim Afolami (pictured right) will also meet Mr Grayling to express his concerns about the Govia Thames link Railway service 

Manchester Piccadilly station was deserted today as commuters stayed at home after trains were hit by long delays and cancellations  

Manchester Piccadilly station was deserted today as commuters stayed at home after trains were hit by long delays and cancellations  

A group of MPs representing constituencies along the affected lines will meet with the Transport Secretary this evening to discuss the crisis. 

How did the Northern Rail and Govia Thameslink travel chaos happen?

Here are the main event surrounding the railway commuter chaos

May 20: 

Train operators across the country overhaul their timetables.

Northern Rail and Govia Thameslink see the biggest changes to their timetables.

Late May:

The overhaul sparks chaos with hundreds of trains cancelled or delayed on a daily basis.

Northern Rail faces calls to be stripped of its franchise while  Manchester Andy Burnham accused Transport Secretary Chris Grayling of being ‘asleep at the wheel’.

June 4

Northern Rail and Govia Thameslink introduce an interim timetable to try to get on top of the crisis. 

The changes see hundreds of services axed from the timetable.

Northern Rail apologise to its customers and says it will give them compensation. 

  

In a letter to some of the MPs, Transport minister James Heappey tells MPs they have been unable to accommodate a significant number of colleagues at this stage’ and urges them to pick another date for the meeting.

Labour MP Lisa Nandy said: ‘Where I have just come from in the north of England, railways have basically ground to a halt.

‘It has been a complete crisis for the last two weeks – constituent can’t get to work, people’s lives are being ruined.

‘And I’ll be looking for a sign, at least, from the Transport Secretary, that he understands the scale of this crisis.’

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour, the MP for Wigan said that MPs will be using  their ten-minute slots with the Cabinet minister to ‘put across the very many grievances that date back to two years ago when he awarded the franchise to Arriva Rail North’.

Anger has boiled over Northern Rail introduced a new timetable on May 20 which saw hundreds of services axed, delayed and cancelled. 

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, said Northern is in the ‘last chance saloon’ amid the chaos and called fro ‘substantial’ compensation to be paid out to commuters.  

Northern’s managing director David Brown said a compensation scheme will be unveiled imminently.

He said: ‘We will be putting in place a compensation package. We will definitely be doing that. We believe that’s only right to give the people that are our loyal customers some recompense for the discomfort that we’ve caused them.

‘We are working on that and we will be finalising that in due course.’

However he suggested the compensation scheme will be limited to season ticket travellers.

Commuters who use one off tickets to catch a train can apply for compensation if it is 30 minutes late, he told BBC Breakfast.

Train fares could be based on the quality of service under new proposals

Commuters are being asked whether they believe it should be cheaper to travel on routes with slower, less regular and more basic trains

Commuters are being asked whether they believe it should be cheaper to travel on routes with slower, less regular and more basic trains

Train fares could be based on the quality of service under radical new plans being consulted on.

The rail industry is looking at ways to overhaul ticket prices to make them fairer without spending any more money.

Commuters are being asked whether they believe it should be cheaper to travel on routes with slower, less regular and more basic trains.

While better services would become more expensive.

Other possibilities include abolishing peak and off-peak fares so passengers are charged the same throughout busier and quieter periods.

Or giving discounts to regular travellers and reducing prices for e-tickets but increasing them for paper tickets to reflect the difference in transaction costs.

The consultation is being launched on Monday by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the industry, alongside passenger watchdog Transport Focus.

They will use the responses to produce a report containing proposals for governments to consider. 

The ticketing system is underpinned by regulations which are unchanged from the mid-1990s, and have not kept pace with technology or how people work and travel. 

Around 55 million different fares exist, including long-standing anomalies such as charging a peak-time fare when half a trip is on an off-peak service, and split ticketing, where it can be cheaper to buy several tickets for a single journey.

RDG chief executive Paul Plummer said he wants to create ‘an easier-to-use fares system’.

He went on: ‘Reforming the rules about how tickets are sold and bought has the potential to transform the buying experience for customers, making it easier for people to be confident they are getting the right ticket.

‘These reforms support what the industry is already doing to make improvements to fares alongside record investment in new train carriages, upgraded stations and extra services.’

Research commissioned by the RDG found that only one in three (34%) passengers are ‘very confident’ they bought the best value ticket for their last journey, and just 29% were ‘very satisfied’ with the ticket-buying experience. 

This would appear to fall short of the significant compensation scheme demanded by Mr Burnham in a letter to Transport for the North. 

He said: ‘Northern have already left people seriously out of pocket and turned their lives upside down with their chaotic services.

‘I have heard countless stories of people forking out for taxis, hire cars, hotels and extra childcare but unable to get compensation for it.

‘Now that Northern are unilaterally cancelling thousands of services – that many season ticket holders have already paid for – passengers must be properly and fully compensated.

‘There must also be a general reduction in fares for all passengers on routes affected by these changes.’

He added: ‘Northern are set to benefit financially from this emergency timetable. It is the company, and not the passengers, who should pay the price for their mismanagement.

‘As far as I am concerned, this emergency timetable represents the last chance saloon for Northern.

‘They are causing too much damage to the economy of the North to be allowed to inflict their miserable, unreliable services on us any longer.

‘If they are not providing the promised new May timetable by early August, then steps should be taken to strip the franchise from them.’      

Northern has apologised and last Friday evening introduced an ‘interim’ timetable, starting on Monday, removing 165 trains – 6 per cent of services.

Areas affected include Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool and the Lakes Line between Oxenholme and Windermere.

Meanwhile, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – which consists of Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express – has also come under fire for chaos on its tracks. 

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said disruption to GTR services is damaging the ‘international reputation’ of the capital and said the firm should be stripped of its franchise to run services.

On Friday GTR saw almost one in 10 (9 per cent) of its trains either cancelled or more than 30 minutes late.

Northern’s record was even worse at 16 per cent. 

Mr Grayling has said he is in ‘regular discussions’ with train operators but the new timetable will ultimately deliver hundreds more services.

Some 20 MPs representing constituencies affected by train disarray along the Govia Thames Link line have written to Mr Grayling to demand immediate action to tackle the crisis.  

Tory MP Bim Afolami , who represents Hitcham and Harpenden in Hertfordshire – where Govia Thameslink Trains have been hit by repeated cancellations – tweeted the letter out.

It tells Mr Grayling: ‘We urgently need to give clear assuarnces to our constituents that the Goveent is tackling this as a priority.

‘We therefore ask that at our meeting you provide us with clean information on how the situation was allowed to get to this point, what the department is doing right now to rectify this situation, and what plans the Government has in the longer term to resolve the many significant problems with this franchise.’     

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said: ‘We’ve been saying for weeks that Grayling has been asleep at the wheel on major issues.

Northern’s managing director David Brown told BBC Breakfast today that a compensation scheme will be unveiled imminently.

Northern’s managing director David Brown told BBC Breakfast today that a compensation scheme will be unveiled imminently.

‘He’s clearly ultimately responsible for all of this, wherever the deficits lie in terms of failing to prepare for a train crew to be in the right place at the right time.

‘And he seems to forget that he’s also responsible for Network Rail.

‘But what he shouldn’t be doing is blaming timetablers who are working so hard trying to pull this round.

‘It’s his responsibility for all of this and it’s just characteristic of his attitude to all of these difficulties that the railway industry is facing by blaming other people rather than looking in the mirror.’  



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