Huge fines for rail shambles

London's appalling commuter train operators are to be fined millions of pounds for their Cattle Truck services.

Connex, South West Trains and South Central are bracing themselves for punishment next week when the half-yearly performance report is published by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA).

The report will detail the huge automatic fines for late and cancelled services, which bring daily misery to thousands of commuters, and for trains that run without enough carriages, leading to the overcrowding highlighted by the Evening Standard in its Cattle Truck London campaign.

However, the SRA's report covers only the six months to 13 October and not the most damning period since then when performance has dropped alarmingly. Official figures for last month show that on many of the busiest routes serving the capital, only slightly more than half the trains ran on time.

Although the companies are quick to blame leaves on the line, the problems are much deeper and there is little sign that conditions will improve this side of Christmas or even in the New Year.

Mike Hewitson, of the watchdog Rail Passengers Committee for Southern England, said: "The telephones have been coming off the wall with the number of customer complaints."

On the Connex Kent Coast routes from Cannon Street, Charing Cross and Victoria, only 61.5 per cent of trains ran on time last month. The suburban Kent Link services were only 70.6 per cent on time, while on South Central routes, which include the Brighton Line, 60.9 per cent were on time and 64.3 per cent on South London metro routes. South West Trains, which operates local and long distance routes out of mainline Waterloo, was also down to 60.1 per cent on its services to Hampshire and Dorset while suburban trains recorded only 68.6 per cent on time.

Wendy Toms, chairman of the RPC for Southern England, said: "It has been an appalling year and last month's figures are the final straw for a lot of passengers. The service has been diabolical and passengers are getting very, very angry." Mrs Toms added: "The SRA report will make depressing reading."

She said apart from leaves on the line there has been a great many signal and track failures, the responsibility of Railtrack, apart from train breakdowns and new stock which doesn't work. Industry sources say Railtrack staff morale is at rock bottom because of the uncertain future of the company, forced into administration by Transport Secretary Stephen Byers. Many Railtrack employees have seen their personal savings wiped out by the share collapse.

Mrs Toms said: "There is concern about how much the delays are to do with the present situation at Railtrack and the low morale of staff."

Connex managing director Olivier Brousse said much of the delays were because new rolling stocking won't couple properly and delay services caught behind.

In a special two-part investigation in October, "Cattle Truck London", the Evening Standard exposed how commuters had never been treated with such contempt. On some trains, 1,500 commuters were being squeezed into coaches designed for 1,000, services were being cancelled with increasing frequency, and more and more trains were running late.

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