Bexhill and Battle MP, Huw Merriman, reiterated the frustration and problems faced by local Southern Rail customers when he asked the Secretary of State for Transport if an end to rail misery was in sight during last Monday’s Transport Select Committee.

In response, the Secretary of State sympathised with the frustration faced by Southern customers over the industrial action.  However, he said that whilst the RMT maintains that a train cannot run without a member of its staff on board in exceptional circumstances, there is unlikely to be resolution to the strike action. Mr Grayling said that the RMT are insisting that a driver only operated train would be have to be cancelled and “its passengers slung off” if the train supervisor does not arrive on time for their shift.

Mr Grayling added that the previous government invested over £2billion in new train stock for this network to improve its performance. These state of the art trains are now ready to be rolled out and have new technology that does not require two people to open and close the doors. Driver only operated (DOO) trains already run on over half the GTR network. He said that given this new technology, ways of working have to change and move on. Yesterday Southern re-offered a deal to RMT staff that assures them of no job losses, no pay cuts, no loss of overtime and a £2k bonus to transition to the new train supervisor role. Mr Grayling said “Why the RMT are bringing such misery to Southern passengers makes no sense” and called on the RMT to ballot their members on the new role and offer.

Mr Grayling also highlighted that the ongoing performance issues on Southern were not limited to the current industrial action. He said that for too long Southern and Network Rail had not taken a joined up approach to works to improve the struggling Southern network. This is why he brought in a new project board under the leadership former Virgin train boss, Chris Gibb, to look at the network’s problems over the summer. Improvements that have already been identified and implemented include better planning for peak times, better despatch from stations and a more integrated approach to operations at Three Bridges. However, passengers have not seen any benefit from these improvements due to the ongoing industrial action.

Huw pressed the Secretary of State on whether it was time for the Department for Transport to intervene to resolve the dispute. He asked “Is there a role for Ministers to decide on the “exceptional circumstances” where a train can run without a supervisor and does the dispute now require the Government to step in to bring parties together?”   Mr Grayling responded that if the RMT accepts that there could be an agreed definition of “exceptional circumstances” then talks with ACAS could re-start immediately, and, if it would be helpful, Department for Transport officials could play a role in the new talks.

Speaking after the Select Committee Huw said “As I made clear to the Secretary of State for Transport in this public Parliamentary committee, local residents are fed up and exasperated. I made him aware that some commuters have had to give up work, as they cannot manage childcare, and businesses are losing revenue. I hope that the questions I asked captured the key issues which passengers would have wanted me to convey. Amber Rudd and I will continue to push daily for the union and management to bring this strike to an end.”