NEW CONTRACT ALLOWS GOVIA THAMESLINK RAILWAY MORE TRAIN CANCELLATIONS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2016 :: RMTnews 5 A new government agreement, representing a last ditch attempt to prevent the termination of the Govia Thameslink railway franchise, will allow the company to increase train cancellations by a third, representing almost 9,000 additional cancellations per year. The “remedial plan” was produced in February by GTR and agreed with the government but was only smuggled out by Ministers under a raft of complex franchise documents late last month. The purpose of the amendment of the original franchise agreement was to address GTR's contractual breach of the Schedule 7.1 benchmark for cancellations and admits that “the overall number of cancellations has increased and GTR have exceeded its threshold for TOC [Train Operating Company] cancellations”. But astonishingly the plan then goes on to allow GTR to inflict more misery on passengers by increasing the “Default performance level” for train cancellations by a third from 2.01 per cent of train services in the original franchise agreement to a maximum of 2.75 per cent in the new agreement over the coming months. The Default performance level will also continue to allow for more trains to be cancelled under the new agreement compared to the original franchise agreement. RMT estimates that on average this will increase the number of trains cancelled before GTR is in breach of its franchise agreement from 23,391 to 32,000. At the same time a new independent poll by Opinium has found that 87 per cent of passengers who have to endure using GTR every day want the company thrown off the railway and the service nationalised. The Remedial Plan, which was agreed in February before any industrial action on Southern, also admits that the unpopular Driver Only Operation system already operated on part of the network has “significantly increased the number of incidents”….“causing trains to be delayed and in some cases restricted to call at staffed stations only or cancelled”. Under an alarming interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act, the Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McCloughlin has also ordered 25 redactions, mostly relating to staffing issues, from the 20 page document. Despite this the document admits that issues relating to drivers are caused by mismanagement and regular disruption to the franchise has had “a debilitating effect on frontline staff, including traincrew”. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the dirty secrets of rail franchising had been dragged out under the spotlight which will spark a new wave of anger amongst the passengers on the GTR franchise. “Not only is the government bending the rules, and inflicting more misery on the travelling public, but they are admitting that Driver Only Operation, the issue at the heart of the current Southern dispute, has already compromised safety and led to a spate of cancellations. “The government is now opening the door to GTR to hack-back and cancel services at will without fear of any penalty. “It is shocking that the day after even Tory MPs were lining up to demand that GTR be stripped of the franchise that the government has done the complete opposite and given the company carte-blanche to carry on treating their passengers and staff with complete contempt. “Nearly 90 per cent of GTR’s regular users want the company thrown out and the routes taken under public ownership,” he said. RMT recently held a protest at the London headquarters of Keolis, the French co-owners of Govia Thameslink Railways, as part of the campaign to defend jobs, services and safety on the failing franchise. NEW CONTRACT ALLOWS GOVIA THAMESLINK RAILWAY MORE TRAIN CANCELLATIONS Government orders 25 redactions, mostly relating to staffing issues, from the new agreement