From
The BBC» More than a third of Londoners think commuter trains have deteriorated over the last year, a new survey suggests. The YouGov poll which surveyed 1,087 people found 37% said national rail services had worsened while eight per cent said they had improved. The findings have been described as a "damning indictment" of rail companies.
Network Rail, which manages rail infrastructure, claims Londoners will benefit from a "huge increase in rail capacity" in the coming months. A Network Rail spokesperson said this was due to new services, new rolling stock and a £10bn taxpayer-funded investment. The spokesperson added: "We have the safest, fastest growing network in Europe and the railway is more reliable now than it has ever been."
'Fed up'
The poll was released ahead of an average rail fare increase of 3.4% - the biggest in five years - comes into effect.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: "These latest figures are a damning indictment of the continuing failure of train operating companies to provide an adequate service for passengers." "Londoners are fed up with repeated delays, cancelations and overcrowding.""Growing dissatisfaction with private train companies shows why a further hike in rail fares this January is simply unjustifiable."
The Mayor claimed the "only viable long-term solution" was for suburban rail services to be devolved to Transport for London (TfL» ). That idea was backed by 61% of respondents as well as the Campaign for Better Transport. The group's chief executive Stephen Joseph said the survey's findings "chime with our own and others' research which shows that the rail services TfL controls consistently outperform most other London rail services".
The Department for Transport (DfT» ) said in November it would "work with TfL to explore options for transferring selected services such as the West London line to TfL". Network Rail said "improved working with TfL at times of disruption to the rail network would be helpful in redirecting passengers to other stations where they can complete their journeys."
In a nutshell ...
Network Rail promise it will be better in coming months.I expect they're right, but hard to totally trust because they're often so hard to communicate with, and we're not in that awkward period where promised improvements have not yet been delivered and their "it will get better by [date]" has in fact results in a service which - at the point of writing - has been taking steps back rather than forward.
The Mayor of London sees an opportunity to bring more services under his [organisation's] control. Too right they can do better than the rest of the network in running such services because the spend per head from the public purse on public transport in London is ten times what it is for the rest of the
UK▸ - we could do wonders in Wiltshire with a budget of similar proportions.
People in a survey will always highlight the negative - and indeed "37% think it is worse" means that 63% think it is about the same or indeed better - but they are not highlighted in the story.
The idea of transferring lines and services around between the franchises and TfL seems to be in vogue for the government; perhaps they want to be seen governing (and ministers seen to be making changes that will be their legacy), but I personally remain unconvinced that it's a good idea. Looking at the "Red/Blue" map in the GWF consultation, I shudder at some of the geographic things it suggests - but then I also take a look at the Brighton services, and the Greenfords like the government does, and wonder if they remain a logical fit with
GWR▸ .
The District line ran - for a short period around 100 years ago - though to Windsor and Eton Central. Is there a case for the Elizabeth line to run through to Greenford and to Windsor - after all, if Elizabeth wants to pop into her town house in St James' Park from her home in Windsor, couldn't she become a commuter on the line that's named after her?
