-
Transport Secretary has asked if the independent rail
regulator can set out principles for continuous improvement of
train dispatch
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the Office of Rail and Road has
confirmed GTR’s plans for
driver-only operation are safe
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GTR set out
contingency plans for strike action
Transport Secretary has today (6 January 2017)
called for driver’s union ASLEF to
stop next week’s strike after the Office of Rail and Road
(ORR) confirmed
Southern Railway’s plans for driver-controlled trains are safe.
The Transport Secretary has also asked if it is possible for the
independent rail regulator, as part of its ongoing work, to
develop principles for continuous improvement of train dispatch
to further improve the way trains are dispatched across the
country – and expects the unions to be fully involved in this
process.
The RMT and ASLEF transport
unions have been taking strike action over plans to introduce
trains where the driver controls the operation of the doors,
which the unions claim is unsafe.
Transport Secretary said:
ASLEF should
call off its strike. There are no grounds for the strike to go
ahead. The independent rail regulator has confirmed after a
further review that driver-controlled trains are safe.
I want our railways to be the safest in the world. I have asked
if it is possible for the ORR to set out a national
framework for further improvements to the way in which trains
are dispatched. I want and hope the unions will be fully
involved in this.
The government is doing everything we can to limit the impact
of this strike on passengers and I have written to the unions
again today to offer to meet. No one is losing their job or
earning less as a result of the changes.
Additional measures have been put in place to help people get
to work but there will be much less capacity than usual and
journeys will take longer. Those who have the option of working
from home should do so.
In a report published on
Thursday, Ian Prosser, the HM Chief Inspector of Railways,
confirmed that driver-only operation on trains on Southern are
safe, with suitable equipment, proper procedures and competent
staff in place.
The ORR made some
recommendations for further improvements, including ensuring
that CCTV image quality is
consistently high, which GTR-Southern has
accepted and is in the process of implementing. The report
also suggested some further minor improvements that are required
before DOOis
introduced at a small number of stations, for example
improvements to station lighting.
GTR has given a
categorical assurance that trains will either not operate
under DOO conditions at these
stations until they meet the necessary lighting standards – or,
where this is not immediately possible, they will put in place
alternative dispatch arrangements, for example station staff
dispatch.
Mr Grayling has now written to Mr Prosser welcoming his ongoing
work on train dispatch and asked if the ORR can develop a set of
principles for continuous improvement which all train operators
must follow where DOO is in operation or is
being introduced.
In light of the report, the Transport Secretary has written
to ASLEF renewing
his invitation to meet with them if they call off the strike.
The request comes as drivers are due to strike on the Southern
Rail network on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday next week.
Govia Thameslink Railway has announced a package of measures to ease the
strike disruption. The government has also been working to
help alleviate the impact on passengers.
However, even with the additional measures, there will be much
less capacity than usual and journeys will take longer. Advice to
passengers is to work from home where possible, use alternative
routes, or alter their journeys to account for the disruption.
A full Thameslink service will run. Extra measures include:
- bus services to transfer passengers to other stations to join
alternative rail services
- National Express will lay on extra services from Brighton to
London throughout the week
- working with car sharing providers to promote car sharing to
passengers
- using business networks to encourage employers to support
remote working or staggered hours by their staff
Passengers on Southern can claim money back if their train is
late by 15 minutes or more. A compensation package where season
ticket holders who travelled for at least 12 weeks between 24
April and 31 December 2016 will receive a month’s free travel
was recently announced.
