Yesterday I met again with Charles Horton, Chief Executive of GTR and Alex Foulds, Passenger Service Director at GTR to enforce yet again the frustration that passengers are experiencing on the network. While some 57 per cent of delays are attributable to Network Rail issues - with whom we are also in contact with, the rest is attributable to operators. On both areas local MPs and the Minister continue to put pressure on the companies concerned. The completion of current works in the region will improve reliability. The £6.5bn investment in Thameslink (including London Bridge) and new rolling stock will improve resilience across southern and reduce consequential delays.
The immediate requirement is for the operators to increase the number of available drivers. The full training programme takes 13-14 months but Southern have the highest number of drivers (some 251) in training than ever before, each at different stages of the process. Unfortunately the introduction of the better rolling stock has required driver re-training on the new engines, so the benefits are taking time to come through - but we are firmly assured they will become apparent. The cost of train travel is extremely expensive. I am very sorry for all the inconvenience passengers continue to experience. My colleagues and I will continue to push operators and Network Rail hard to meet the improvement goals they have been set.