Your recent service
Service issues
We would like to apologise for service levels, in particular on Thameslink. We appreciate that recent weeks have been a difficult and sometimes frustrating time for many of our passengers and we are sorry if you have been personally affected by delayed and cancelled services.
When we took over the franchise in September we knew that punctuality and reliability on the Thameslink route in particular had been declining for the past three years. We immediately put plans in place to address the underlying issues but knew that the changes we are making will take time to deliver their full results.
We have also been affected a number of incidents and delays. Some have been outside our control for example there were seven fatalities on Thameslink in the first three weeks but around 23% of delays can be attributed to Thameslink and Great Northern and we have to do better.
Driver shortages
Regrettably, despite our best efforts, some services have been cancelled because we have not had enough drivers for all our rail services, especially given the essential training we are undertaking at the moment to deliver Thameslink programme works.
We inherited this issue when we took over the franchise in September and we are determined to address it. We have made a public commitment to recruit enough drivers to substantially reduce our reliance on drivers working overtime. Right now we have 62 in training who will be finishing their courses between now and August and we are recruiting another 89. We are recruiting extra trainers so we can ramp up the number of courses. Training a driver takes more than a year however, so there is no quick fix to this issue.
In the meantime, while the extra drivers are in training, we can normally cover driver shifts through drivers volunteering to work overtime but with the festive period upon us, this has not always been possible.
As mentioned previously on Thameslink, the situation is exacerbated by the need for essential training for the new routes our drivers will be taking into and around London Bridge plus the conversion course for driving our new trains. We have had 900 training days on Thameslink in just three months.
We have a resilience plan for the festive period, suspending all non-essential driver release and double-manning our driver resource management team, and we are constantly reviewing the drivers we have available and assigning them to services in such a way as to minimise the disruption caused. Driver-related cancellations will recede reduce in January.
Punctuality, reliability and short trains
Part of the issue is train reliability. On Thameslink, the trains are being worked very hard at the moment while others are taken out of service for heavy overhaul and, in some cases, accessibility improvements, which is a legal requirement. This overhaul programme will pass but in the meantime it has affected reliability and also led to shorter trains. In response, we aim to increase the size of the fleet with three extra trains as soon as they become available, in the New Year. We also have new trains coming in now on Bedford to Brighton services plus, in another 18 months, even newer trains through the Thameslink Programme which are fixed in length at a minimum of eight carriages.
Frustratingly, where things have gone wrong with issues within our control, it has frequently been where it causes the most disruption to our services and our passengers for example in the heart of London. On some occasions it has taken us too long to recover the service and we are putting in place processes with Network Rail so we can do better.
However, most delays (around 66% across our network) are attributable to problems with signalling, power and track systems (the railway infrastructure). To tackle infrastructure issues such as these, we have formed an alliance with Network Rail to scope out projects to tackle problem areas.
For example, speed restrictions north of Bedford on the Midland Mainline means that some East Midlands Trains services are arriving late onto the tracks we share and causing delay to our trains. Network Rail expects to have removed these by the middle of 2015.
On Great Northern, reliability has actually been better year on year thanks to the completion of a years worth of infrastructure work in just three months but recent overrunning engineering work on three consecutive Mondays and signal failures at places like Alexandra Palace have taken their toll.
Information
At times of disruption we appreciate information is crucial. In response we have introduced a twitter account providing service updates, a new On Track app, and a free travel alert system and are upgrading our website. There are plans to improve real-time information, including on-train systems and provide door-to-door journey information on our app. We have just started a trial whereby all our frontline staff will be issued with iPad minis giving them the latest information at their fingertips. Improvements to our app and website will be rolled out after Christmas.
Good news new trains and more seats
There is good news. The first of 29 brand new, air-conditioned Class 387 trains have started to arrive on the Thameslink route and these will be steadily rolled out on Bedford to Brighton services so that we can, this January, lengthen two key overcrowded Brighton services and deliver a much more pleasant, comfortable way to travel. By May virtually every train on this service group will be a modern air-conditioned train. The older trains still in operation are having modern accessible toilets installed, spaces for people in wheelchairs and scrolling information displays.
Great Northern benefits too: in response to passenger feedback, well have 15,500 extra seats in the off-peak from 14 December 2014 to and from Moorgate and Kings Cross, through longer trains and later late night services.
Thank you for your patience and please accept our apologies. We are determined to make things better.
Charles Horton, Chief Executive Officer Govia Thameslink Railway