Local MPs, Amber Rudd and Huw Merriman, have spoken this week of the frustration which passengers in the Hastings and Bexhill area have suffered as a result of the industrial action taken by the RMT Union on Southern Rail. Both MPs have spoken with the Chief Executive of Southern Rail, the leader of the RMT Union and the Rail Minister in the last week to urge for a solution be found for local passengers.
Local rail services were severely impacted across the network, with no trains running at all for 5 days and no replacement bus service running from Bexhill and only a limited replacement service running from Hastings to Ashford. Huw, who was attempting to travel from Bexhill to meetings in Brighton by train on Monday, prepared a video diary of his journey, which took almost 3 hours each way rather than the usual journey time of just over an hour.
Amber said "I have spoken with Charles Horton, Chief Executive of Southern Rail, and told him that passengers in Hastings and Rye have suffered enormous disruption for far too long and urgently need a resolution. He assured me have he has given the RMT and its members guarantees over jobs, pay rises and a second member of staff on every scheduled train (as is currently the case). What Southern are asking for, in return, is flexibility for a train to run if the second crew member cannot make the train and the driver is able to operate the doors. I hope that the Union will consider that it has been given a better deal than many of its passengers enjoy, many of whom are struggling to get to their places of employment."
Huw, who spoke with Mick Cash, leader of the RMT Union, for an hour this week and then with Paul Maynard, Rail Minister, said "I was grateful to Mick Cash for calling me and I listened to the matters which he felt staff needed more reassurance over. Equally, I asked Mick to accept that there were matters which his Union needed to concede on which would help trains run more regularly in the future and give a better service to passengers. I then passed on the concerns to the Secretary of State for Transport and the Rail Minister, the latter of whom I talked with. I made clear to the Rail Minister that our constituents had suffered enough and I urged him to consider bringing his influence to the table to get the remaining issues resolved. As local MPs, Amber and I will continue to do all we can to help facilitate talks between those who can bring this matter to an end."
The RMT was scheduled to end its industrial action on Friday 12 August. Southern Rail have announced that, if it cannot reach an agreement beforehand, it will impose the new changes later this month in order to introduce new rolling stock to many lines across its network as part of its investment programme.
