Southern Rail commuters have spoken out in disbelief after the rail operator can report profits of almost £100 million despite being “unable to run a functioning service”.
Advertisement
Go-Ahead Group, which has a majority stake in the failing Southern franchise, declared a 27 per cent leap in profits to £99.8m barely 24 hours after it was revealed it is to benefit from a £20m package announced by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to “get to grips” with months of chaos on Southern’s routes.
Go-Ahead’s rail businesses generated an operating profit of £57 million for the company in the last financial year, with United Kingdom franchises reporting revenue growth across the board. A company which has failed to deliver for passengers every day for the past year, and which only yesterday got its snout back in the public trough, with another generous pile of taxpayers’ cash, courtesy of a compliant DfT, has just announced record profits for its shareholders.
“The reaction to the cancellations, delays and poor service from both Southern and the Government has been wholly inadequate”.
Go-Ahead claims that it is planning move forward with having new on-board train supervisors.
“That the taxpayer is on the hook for millions of pounds to prop up this company is just salt in the wound”.
However, since then, Southern has been beset by widespread problems, which have forced it to cancel 341 services a day to try to get control of widespread delays.
“While it is good news that this dispute has been suspended, we are disappointed that the dispute with the RMT over changes to the role of Southern conductors remains”.
Describing Go-Ahead’s timing of the profit announcement as “deeply cynical”, RMT general secretary Mick Cash said the “money-raking” company had “turned Britain’s railways into a global laughing stock”. Unsurprisingly, there have been accusations of the company rewarding failure.
Cash said “just a fraction” of the profits would be enough to keep the guards on Southern trains, keep the passengers safe and resolve the industrial dispute between RMT and the company.
“It is shameful that they have opted to hoard cash instead of protecting the travelling public”.
The group said it achieved its £100m bus target with adjusted operating profit up 8.0% to £100.4m. “It’s completely unacceptable they’re paying massive dividends to shareholders while Croydon residents suffer”.
The company has been locked in a battle with the Rail, Maritime and Transport union over the proposed changes, leading to a series of strikes.
Boss David Brown said they had been trying to introduce three new train fleets and modernise working practices. “The major Thameslink infrastructure programme will ultimately bring vital extra capacity, but it has caused large scale disruption through restricted network capacity, particularly in the phase of major works at London Bridge”.
“Committed railway people across the industry work hard round the clock to provide the best possible service to a growing number of passengers, during a time of much-needed major investment”.
Advertisement
The company behind Southern Rail was accused of “taking the public for a ride” today after announcing that profits had soared to nearly £100 million in the past 12 months.
