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Mayor urges government to step in to end 'unceasing misery' of Southern rail

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has derided Govia Thameslink Railway for its handling of the Southern railway franchise and has called on the government to step in.

Wading into the ongoing row over Govia’s mismanagement of the line, Khan has criticised the company for the ‘unceasing misery’ it has unleashed on passengers due to late services, timetable changes and cancellations.

Southern stripped 341 trains from its timetable just last week, in an attempt to make its services more ‘resilient’ in the face of huge levels of staff sickness and industrial action over the company’s plans to introduce new trains which the RMT union say will lead to train guard job cuts.

Amidst all the chaos, and in the wake of commuter protests this morning, London’s Mayor has called on the government to strip Govia of the franchise and speed up plans to get the service under the control of Transport for London.

Khan said: “This utter mess is now an embarrassment to our city, it is an insult to hard-working Londoners who pay their fares and it must be fixed. That is why I am calling on the Government to strip Southern of its franchise and take over the temporary responsibility of running these services.

“Ministers need to put in place a new and faster timetable for handing over inner suburban rail services to Transport for London, so that we can provide passengers with the improved services, stations and fares they deserve.

“My team is ready and willing to work with the Government on transferring responsibility for those services to Transport for London in a far speedier fashion.”

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