Southern axes 15pc of timetable, suspends routes

(ShareCast News) - Train operator Southern Railway has brought down the axe on hundreds of services across its network, in a bid to stem ongoing cancellations, delays and disruption across its network in London and southern England.Southern is part of Govia Thameslink Railway, which is 65% owned by FTSE 250 firm Go-Ahead, with the remainder held by majority-state owned French transport operator Keolis.It has said there will be 341 fewer daily services on its revised schedule, which begins next Monday - a 15% reduction in trains operating.At present, 2,242 trains run over the Southern network every weekday."We are introducing this temporary weekday revised timetable with reluctance but it is the best thing we can do for our passengers who have been suffering daily cancellations ever since this dispute with the RMT began, and for which we are sincerely sorry," said Southern passenger services director Alex Foulds."It should give the majority of our passengers a better, more consistent service that they can plan around."Southern's west London services will be completely suspended between Clapham Junction and Milton Keynes, and the Coastway services on England's south coast will be cut back severely.Most trains between Seaford and Lewes will be replaced by buses, and there will be a major reduction in services between Tonbridge and Redhill.Chaos and confusion have become regular scenes at London Victoria and London Bridge stations in recent months - the company's two London termini - with hundreds of services delayed, cancelled or amended on a daily basis.The disruption has stemmed from management plans to convert a number of its services to driver-only operation, whereby responsibility for closing doors and giving the right-away signal lies solely with the driver.Southern has promised that no guards will lose their jobs, saying they will move into more "customer focused" roles.Since the plans were revealed, Southern has claimed an unusual number of staff have called in sick each day, creating the disruption.But a number of sources have reported that enough staff are turning up to run the trains, only for them to be denied access by Southern."Conductors already know that their jobs are guaranteed, that there will be no reduction in salary and that the independent rail safety body has confirmed our plans are safe," Foulds explained.The operator claims the revised schedule will operate until crew availability returns to normal.But the Rail and Maritime Transport Union has said the franchise is in meltdown."The continuing attempt to blame this gross mismanagement on the front line staff is a cynical and cowardly ploy by a company who have chosen to wage war on their passengers and workforce alike," said the union's general secretary Mick Cash.Govia Thameslink Railway - which also includes the Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express networks - is the first rail franchise to operate under a new model, whereby the Department for Transport collects all fare revenue and pays Govia a fixed £8.9bn fee over the seven year life of the franchise.The current franchise model involves companies collecting fare revenue and either paying a contribution to the DfT, or collecting a subsidy.