Calls for action grow as rail fiasco becomes worse every day

On Tuesday temperatures were even higher in overcrowded trains than outside on the hottest day of the year, and signal failures compounded misery which included the temporary closure of the station, where commuters reported feeling terrified by the noise and pressure of the crowd.

With the economy of the city and county now under threat by the calamitous rail service, the new Rail Minister Paul Maynard refused to speak to The Argus, as did Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.

Hove MP Peter Kyle told the Argus: “The very nature of our economy means that this problem with Southern is a dagger to the heart of what makes Brighton tick: tourism, small business and people who are self employed.”

Mr Kyle and his fellow MP Caroline Lucas confronted new rail minister Paul Maynard as he went in to speak to the Transport Select Committee last night.

Mr Kyle said: “We had a very quick meeting in the corridor. Caroline and I express in the strongest possible terms the anger, the frustration, and the absolute despair that people are feeling.”

They are due to have a conference call with the minister today.

Adam Chinnery of the Brighton Seafront Traders Association said: “On Tuesday we had a number of customers saying their journey down was an absolute nightmare, and people told me they were leaving early so the return wouldn’t be as much of a challenge.

“That’s going to put businesses at risk. Rather than staying and buying an evening meal as well they’ll just do lunch and head home, we’re getting half the tourist spend.”

New pier owner Luke Johnson said: “It’s not good news and it’s unfortunate that it’s happening during peak season,” but added that business this week had been good and that the town would bounce back after the dispute was resolved.

Caroline Lucas stressed that public safety was being put at risk, and said: “If this were any other kind of public emergency you would see an emergency response.

She added: “The horrendous situation at Brighton Station was a new low for this failing train service.”

Commuter Rona Hunnisett described the scene at Brighton Station on Tuesday: "It was truly terrifying. I can’t believe no-one was seriously hurt. There was a mass of people like a football ground out the door and down the hill as far as the eye could see, and tempers were starting to fray."

Last week the service officially became a national joke.

When asked on BBC One's Mock the Week how long the average journey is from London to Brighton currently on Southern Rail comedian Miles Jupp answered “12 Days”.

Meanwhile London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for the franchise to be taken over directly by the leadership team of Transport for London, which runs the Tube network.

And there were contested reports that Southern’s Delay Repay compensation scheme, which awards £5 payout vouchers to customers who are delayed by more than 30 minutes, was itself taking up to a month and a half to issue compensation.

‘MOST MISERABLE DAY’S TRAVEL IN MY LIFE. I FELT UNSAFE’ COMMUTERS suffered a day of abject misery on Tuesday as 30C heat, broken rail infrastructure and signal failures piled on top of Southern’s existing staffing and resourcing problems.

Children fainted, businessmen shouted and air conditioning systems either failed or were unable to cope with the hottest day of the year combined with the body heat of the mass of passengers pressed on to overcrowded trains formed of too-few carriages.

One commuter described her 100-minute delay as the end of the most miserable day’s travelling of her life. She said it was the first time she had ever felt physically unsafe commuting.

She said that at Brighton Station, which was temporarily closed by the British Transport Police due to overcrowding, she was hit with a “wall of noise like a football game”.

Govia Thameslink Railway, owner of the Southern franchise, pointed to “issues beyond our control” in explaining Tuesday’s woes.

Engineering works being carried out by Network Rail on Monday overran, then a deep hole caused by a collapsed sewer closed all four main lines in and out of London Bridge on Monday afternoon and all day on Tuesday.

By 5pm on Tuesday there were already 308 trains either more than 30 minutes late or cancelled on Southern and Thameslink as a result.

And then a two-and-a-half hour signal failure at Gatwick on the main line at 6pm caused additional misery.

Rona Hunnisett, 49, works in PR for a charity in Victoria. She told The Argus that her 5.30pm train home from London was “absolutely packed” because the previous service had been cancelled.

She said: “We crawled to East Croydon where it doesn’t stop but we stopped anyway.

“It was a brand new train but there was no air conditioning. It was cooler outside the train than in it.

“Then we sat at Gatwick for 40 minutes.

“When we got into Brighton we were met with a wall of sound, it was like walking into a football stadium.”

The station had been closed at 7.20pm on the advice of British Transport Police, following overcrowding caused by earlier delays and disruptions.

Ms Hunnisett said: “Across the whole concourse you couldn’t put a pin between the people. None of the barriers was opening in or out. There was a man in a grey suit standing on top of one of the barriers, trying to appease the baying mob.

“It was truly terrifying. I can’t believe no one was seriously hurt. There was a mass of people like a football ground out the door and down the hill as far as the eye could see and tempers were starting to fray.

“There was one woman having to be helped and held, she was obviously very unwell. I think she fainted.

“And one man in a suit just went nuts, he was shouting and screaming ‘what right do you have to screw up my life?’.”

By the time Ms Hunnisett had fought her way through the crowds and out to the car park, her journey had taken more than one hour and 40 minutes longer than it should have, although because the train drew into the station 58 minutes late she will only receive £5 “delay repay” compensation.

She said: “It was the most miserable journey of my life and it was also the only time I’ve ever felt unsafe commuting.”

Two and a half weeks ago Southern introduced a temporary timetable with 341 fewer trains in a bid to reduce cancellations and delays on the surviving services. It came after two months of havoc on the network with Southern accusing RMT union members of unofficial industrial action through high levels of sickness. The union blames under-resourcing by GTR and is in dispute over the forthcoming introduction of driver-only operation trains which will change the role of conductors to a more customer-focused one. The union claims this will jeopardise passenger safety and job security for their members.

Others took to social media to complain and share stories of fainting children and miserable journeys.

Jo Edwards tweeted: “At Victoria – no trains to Brighton, no advice/updates, poor lad has just fainted and being fanned by his dad, third world service.”

On Facebook Nicholas Turnbull posted: “This evening, my journey from Hove to Chichester took approximately four hours: two changes at Littlehampton and Barnham, four cancelled services with the Portsmouth Harbour service diverted to Bognor shortly after everyone had got on it at Barnham and a rail replacement bus service between Barnham and Chichester.”

Dozens of photographs posted online showed commuters pressed together cheek by jowl on the hottest day of the year.

Southern explained that 42 trains ran with fewer carriages than normal because disruptions had left rolling stock out of position on the network.

It said that only one train reported failed air conditioning and only in five of its carriages but rumours swirled online that in the heat of the day the system was simply unable to cope with demand.

Natalie Chuwen on Facebook said: “No air con on the hottest day of the year plus Gatwick Express plus seven months pregnant plus delays with no explanation equals yet another Southern fail.

“Enough now please.”

She was not the only person to express that sentiment.

COMPENSATION PAYMENT DELAYS TOO EVEN compensation for delayed trains is now delayed and not all Southern staff are singing from the same hymn sheet.

When The Argus called the Southern Rail customer service team yesterday, posing as a commuter to confirm online rumours of delays, we were told by a representative that a system which usually takes up to 20 working days is now suffering delays of up to an additional 10 working days.

That means passengers whose commute was disrupted might still be waiting for their “delay repay” recompense two and a half months later.

And Twitter user Chris H wrote to Southern to say: “Now waiting over a month for @SouthernRailUK to respond to a delay repay demand.”

To which Southern’s official Twitter account replied yesterday morning: “Apologies Chris! Unfortunately we are running behind with delay repay. You should receive a response by the end of next week.”

However a Southern press spokesman told The Argus: “The longest anyone is waiting is 20 working days and most claims, if the forms are filled in fully, are turned around in a week.”

The spokesman apologised and insisted that the company has almost doubled the number of staff on the team processing claims and has introduced automation to speed up claims handling, but said that on Tuesday there were eight times the standard number of claims.

To apply for compensation go to www.southernrailway.com/delayrepay. The system pays out a £5 refund voucher if your journey is delayed by between 30 and 59 minutes late and more for greater delays or cancellations.