Ms Perry resigned on Thursday evening and no reasons have been given for her departure from the Department for Transport.
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She had faced mounting pressure up in recent weeks over cancelled and late-running trains on routes in south-east England.
In a Westminster hall debate on Wednesday, Tim Loughton, the MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, called the situation “embarrassing, pathetic, unsustainable and a national disgrace” and said it was an even bigger issue than the European Union referendum for MPs.
She said: “It doesn’t feel to me like everybody pulling together to deliver a battle plan for customers who want to get home and I think they should be”.
Commuters have been lumped with an “emergency timetable” for Southern services from this week, seeing nearly 350 trains cancelled each day in a bid to “normalise” the busiest and most disruptive services.
Train cancellations have been a problem for Southern for some months now, with disputes with staff over the potential implementation of more driver-only operated services.
“So what are we going to do?”
She said: “If I thought it would help by me falling on my sword, I would”. “I have thought about it repeatedly”.
She said problems causing the issue include the rail industry’s “disdain” for passengers, a “broken” investment system, complexities in the franchising system and a lack of levers for taking away contracts. “This feels like a failure”.
Strike action by rail workers and supposed high levels of staff sickness has also affected its performance.
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It is not yet known who will replace Ms Perry, with new Prime Minister Theresa May now in the process of appointing her new government.
