Southern Rail STRIKE details

Hotchilidog said:

What is clear, is that this government in particular and certainly this company do not have the interests of the passengers at heart. It is an unacceptable shambles where ministers and company execs play with the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who just want to get where they want to go based on a timetable that they have published. They have both FAILED massively. To all but the most blinkered this is down to lack of political will, cost cutting, underinvestment (over decades) and an irrational dislike of workers, and those of us that use this alleged SERVICE every day (and occasional users too) are just bloody SICK of it all.

The hastily and spitefully organised privatisation by a dying Major adminstration has seen, certainly this part of the country, totally hamstrung by petty private interests (ironically at a greater cost to the tax payer than before). It is unacceptable for a supposedly top tier nation in the 21st century to not be able to run a f**king railway. It gets hot in other countries (trains still work), it gets cold in other countries (trains still work), nationalised rail services exist elsewhere and still work, yet we are left with pathetic bunch of can't do excuse merchants who will always be ready with explanation as to why they cannot do the job they are paid to do. Everyday I change at Gatwick Airport in the morning and evening rush hours, what a national disgrace we present visitors, both business and leisure, from all over the world with, what must they think. From the oppressive ticket barriers, chaotic queues for tickets and then finally the departure boards littered with delays and cancellations. An utter JOKE. it is unlike anything I have experienced in any major city in Europe. I'm off to Vienna on sunday and that will be a walk in the park compared to the experience we offer visitors to our country.

It's not the unions, it's the system and idealogy that lay behind it that is repsonsible for this mess and it is time for heads to roll.

Rant over.

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Tony Meolas Loan Spell said:

Spot Sir! Next stop the Empire Party

But in all seriousness I agree with you. It hasn't worked and it wont because unlike other services there isn't a natural competition. Don't like EE go to Vodafone, dont want Talk Talk go with Sky. Dont like the Albion, fine support someone else etc etc

But with the trains you cant so its fundamentally flawed. Whats worse is we cant even blame Thatcher because even she knew that it wouldnt work. It was, as you say, stuck in the Major administrations manifesto.

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Tony Meolas Loan Spell said:

It hasn't worked and it wont because unlike other services there isn't a natural competition. Don't like EE go to Vodafone, dont want Talk Talk go with Sky. Dont like the Albion, fine support someone else etc etc .

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Hotchilidog said:

...it's the system and idealogy that lay behind it that is repsonsible for this mess and it is time for heads to roll.

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Not Andy Naylor said:

Sincere apologies if this is old news - I can't go back through 180 pages - but a family member who works for a company that has dealings with Govia believes that they have tried to divest themselves of the Southern and Thameslink franchises on four separate occasions on the grounds that they are impossible to run at a profit.

But after the fiasco of the East Coast, (when the Tory government was appalled to find that it could do a better job than its beloved private companies, and run it at a profit, which goes against everything it holds dear - so sold it off ASAP) that was not going to be permitted.

So they're trying to run it as badly as possible until the government simply has no option but to take it away.

This may, of course, be nonsense, but it makes perfect sense, and the person who told me is not given to flights of fancy.

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portslade seagull said:

This whole saga isn't looking good for those of us who use them to get to the Amex unless the club have an agreement in place

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Easy 10 said:

This is what worries me.

They've binned 350 trains a day. We rely on EXTRA trains to cope with the matchday service. Even a normal service would be wholly inadequate on a matchday, so the current SASTA omnishambles will render rail travel to and from the Amex pretty much impossible for thousands.

I hope the club are onto this, but I've heard absolutely nothing.

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Bozza said:

Funnily enough, I chased up the club earlier today on the back of last night's chaos. I've had a response - talks with Southern are ongoing and the club hope to be able to make an announcement in the near future.

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Ernest said:

It's no good SASTA promising something they can't deliver, managers won't work as guards at weekends or after 7pm, the shortage of actual trains is growing by the day due to shortages of engineering staff so it will be interesting to see if the club have an alternative plan

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Carrot Cruncher said:

This made interesting listening...

https://audioboom.com/boos/4813698-dr-paul-davies-there-seems-to-be-a-cosy-relationship-between-the-dft-and-govia

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Driver8 said:

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CHAPPERS said:

This is absolutely incredible.

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The Antikythera Mechanism said:

Listening to Sadiq Khan on LBC on the way home from work and he has asked the Government that he and a team from TFL take over the running of Southern Rail. He reckons it's the worst franchise ever and needs to be ended. I'm not a Labour voter but he actually sounded like someone who could sort this shit out.

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Ernest said:

There is already a team set up by the DfT 'Directly Operated Railway' who would step in if they finally decided enough is enough. Sadiq Khan is just grandstanding and hasn't a clue what would be involved in taking over Southern plus why should the Mayor of London have any say on transport from Brighton where he isn't elected ?

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