UPDATED 14.50
THE government has announced the appointment of a senior industry figure who will lead a recovery programme for Southern, as its parent Govia Thameslink Railway faces more strikes next week.
There will be new public funding for Southern worth £20 million, which will mainly pay for better train maintenance, more staff at key stations and additional rapid response teams to deal with breakdowns. Almost a million pounds will also be spent on reducing the effect of bridge strikes.
The government said GTR and Network Rail must 'work together to resolve issues earlier and ensure a better service for passengers'.
However, the move has been condemned by the RMT and greeted with caution by transport campaigners.
Chris Gibb, formerly of Virgin Trains and now a non-executive director at Network Rail, is to be in charge of a project board working with Southern, the Department for Transport and Network Rail. Its main task will be to consider how services can be 'rapidly improved', according to the DfT. The new board, announced by transport secretary Chris Grayling, will also include a passenger representative to put forward users' views.
Southern had already announced that it would be easing its emergency timetable from Monday (5 September) by restoring 119 of the 341 services suspended in early July in a bid to match the timetable to the available staff resources, as conductor sickness continued to be a problem.
More industrial problems are looming, as strikes are planned for next week on 7 and 8 September in the continuing dispute over extensions of driver-only operation. However, the strike in protest at changes to ticket office hours at more than 80 Govia Thameslink Railway stations set for 7 September has now been called off, after the RMT agreed to a closely-monitored trial at eight stations.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling said: "I want the Southern network to be run by a team of people who work together to make sure passengers get decent journeys and that problems are dealt with quickly. This review will suggest how we achieve a joined up approach to running the train and tracks and make things work better for the public.
"We also need to get to grips with things that go wrong on this part of the network. That is why we are putting in place a £20 million scheme to tackle the cause of breakdowns that too often cause frustrating and damaging delays on the network.
"I now urge the industry, the train operating company and unions to work together to improve services for passengers."
Chris Gibb said he was looking forward to the task, adding: "Committed railway people across the industry work hard round the clock to provide the best possible service to a growing number of passengers, during a time of much needed major investment. I will bring together the energy of these people to find ways to improve the delivery of this service in the short and medium term."
The decision to invest £20 million of public money has been greeted with hostility by the RMT, which has consistently called for Southern to be renationalised. General secretary Mick Cash said: "This stinks of another multi-million pound taxpayer subsidy to bail out the failing Southern rail part of the Govia Thameslink franchise. If there’s money to prop up this private outfit why isn’t there cash available to make sure that the guards and safety are protected on their trains?
“If this huge chunk of money was allocated to maintaining the safety-critical role and the jobs of the train guards on the Southern services we could have avoided the strike action that has been forced on us again next week."
Meanwhile, rail campaigners have given the transport secretary's decision cautious approval.
Lianna Etkind of the Campaign for Better Transport said: "This is a welcome if delayed intervention from the Government. Targeted investment, better management and stronger passenger involvement will all help in getting Southern back on track. Passengers who have endured months of cancellations and delays will want the Government to go further though, particularly as commuters are still set to see their fares go up next year.
"As well as a fund for Southern, there should be a fund for passengers to compensate them for the disruptions they've suffered so far, and season ticket fares must be frozen next year so commuters aren't paying yet more for a beleaguered service. And we also need a Passenger Assembly where government, union representatives and Southern managers can answer directly to people and hear about their concerns."
The new Southern project board led by Chris Gibb will be due to report in the autumn.