Rail timetable chaos: Government defers full response
until after Williams Review
Today, the Transport Committee publishes a special report
containing the responses from the Department for Transport, and
the Office of Road and Rail, to its Report on Rail timetable
changes: May 2018.
The Committee’s Report on the May 2018 Rail timetable changes
called for swift reform to restore passengers’ trust following a
prolonged period of intensely inconvenient, costly and
potentially dangerous disruption for passengers across the north
of England, in London and the south.
The timetable change saw an unprecedented change of around four
times the usual scale, involving 43,200 individual changes and
affecting 46% of passenger services. Coming on the back of major
infrastructure works, the system could not cope. The Committee
concluded there was a collective, system-wide failure across
Network Rail, the privately-owned train operating companies, the
Department for Transport and the Office of Road and Rail.
The Chair of the Transport Select Committee, MP, said:
“I welcome the fact that the Government has accepted the need for
change to the process for rail timetable changes. And I’m pleased
that the Department and the ORR have taken on board our
recommendations about support for disabled passengers.
“However, despite our pleas on behalf of passengers for swift
reform and clear lines of accountability – the Department for
Transport fails to clarify where responsibility for national rail
timetabling will lie, whether it will be independent, or if rail
franchisees will have to sign up to best practice.
Unsurprisingly, there is no comment on the lack of leadership
from the Department or the Secretary of State.
“We are publishing both the Department for Transport and Office
of Road and Rail responses together and people can judge for
themselves the extent to which the DfT actually addresses the
conclusions and recommendations from our
Report.
“Most disappointing of all, is the decision to defer any
substantive response to our recommendations until after the
outcome of the Williams Review, some two years after the 2018 May
disruption. The Review is important, but I think the Department
has missed an opportunity to show that passengers truly are at
the top of its priorities. At the time when passengers are
looking for reassurance that effective, independent oversight
will bring genuine change, there is none to be found and instead
the can is kicked a bit further down the track.”
Further information:
The news story will go live via this link: www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/transport-committee/news-parliament-2017/rail-timetable-government-response-report-publication-17-19/
The Committee’s Report on Rail timetable
changes was published on 4 December 2018.
