Rail timetable changes: comment from the Transport Committee Chair

• Transport Committee

Chair's comment

Chair of the Transport Committee, Lilian Greenwood MP, said:

"The ongoing timetabling chaos is making the lives of passengers very difficult. The Transport Committee has discussed the problems and is watching the situation carefully.

On Monday I will be asking the Committee to review the situation on the Northern and GTR franchises, which have been particularly badly affected. The high-level performance measures are very poor but in aggregate they don't tell the full story of the individual passengers whose regular journeys are disrupted day after day by cancellations, part-cancellations, short-formations that are overcrowded, rail-replacement buses and last-minute changes to timetables.

The Secretary of State, Network Rail and the train operating companies have questions to answer about the introduction of the timetables but also their management of the disruption, where once again communication with passengers has been woeful. As well as issuing apologies they should be accounting for the decisions they took that led to this complete shambles.

A plethora of reviews have already been commissioned but it's not clear how these will relate to each other and be coordinated; the response to confusion cannot be more confusion."

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