Now the transport secretary is urging the union and GTR to begin to work together.
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Go-Ahead posted adjusted operating profit of 157.4 million pounds ($209 million) in the 12 months ended July 2 2016, compared with 134.7 million a year before and beating a consensus forecast of 153.6 million.
The government said GTR and Network Rail must “work together to resolve issues earlier and ensure a better service for passengers”.
THE government has announced the appointment of a senior industry figure who will lead a recovery programme for Southern, as its parent Govia Thameslink Railway faces more strikes next week.
This follows what DfT described as “unacceptable disruption for passengers in recent months”, including ongoing industrial action by the RMT union as well as ‘unofficial disruption and guards going off sick’.
According to his LinkedIn page, Mr Gibb, who has worked in the rail industry for 35 years, has also worked as a senior adviser for Texas Central Railway in the U.S. and is a non-executive director at Network Rail.
The board would “explore how to achieve a rapid improvement to services for the public”.
Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, said: “It is a testament to the solidarity and determination of our station staff members on Govia Thameslink that we have been able to achieve significant progress in the talks at Acas that have enabled us to suspend next week’s action”.
“This investment complements our existing programme of improvements which is bringing in new trains and changing working practices to improve customer service”, said CEO Charles Horton.
The letter came after Southern cancelled 341 scheduled services on its network, blaming “unprecedented sickness levels” among its staff and disruption caused by a long-running dispute with the RMT union.
The question for us is, will this board take responsibility and sort out a restoration of the full service and trains running reliably to time, or will just add another layer of bureaucracy?
TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: “As Southern is the largest franchise in the network and working at 279% over-capacity, £20 million is a mere fragment of the amount needed to upgrade the service so it is fit for the objective commuters in the South East so desperately need”.
The Star understands that drivers’ union Aslef has suspended its own ballot on strike action following further legal threats from GTR.
“The reality on the railway is that the damage to staff morale is beyond fix and commuters have had enough”.
UNIONS opened talks yesterday in a bid to avoid strikes on Britain’s worst-performing railway over bosses’ plans for booking office closures.
“This is why Labour is committed to bringing rail franchises back under public ownership as they expire”.
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At it stands Southern conductors will still be striking on Wednesday and Thursday next week and there will be a contingency strike timetable in place.
