Concern expressed about deterioration of Thameslink service 

St Albans City and District Council’s Local Services Scrutiny Committee registered concern about the deteriorating standard of the Thameslink service at a meeting on Thursday 4 December.

Committee members voiced concern about the service after questioning senior management from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Network Rail. They also raised more than 20 questions about Thameslink’s performance sent by members of the public to the Committee in advance of the meeting. These included questions about the late running of trains, cancellations, overcrowding and use of four carriage trains at peak hours. (more…)

Tories refuse to discuss bus cuts with local people

Liberal Democrat Councillor Anthony Rowlands, Chair of the all party Local Services Scrutiny Committee, has strongly criticised the Conservative administration at County Hall for refusing to appear before the Committee to answer local residents’ concerns over planned cuts in bus subsidies and highways repairs.

Anthony said: ‘These are reasonable requests. There is no other public forum in which local concerns can be discussed in detail – not least because the County Council recently abolished the local highways joint committee with the District Council which could have dealt with such matters.

‘Both Council officers and myself, as Scrutiny Committee Chair, have written to Councillor Terry Douris, the Cabinet member at County in charge of highways and buses.  Councillor Douris has refused to speak to us and he won’t even instruct a senior officer to attend the Committee. He excuses himself by saying he is about to have a private meeting with his Cabinet counterpart at the District – another Conservative!

‘Local residents could be forgiven for assuming that the County Council was not interested in their views.  County claims it wants to work in partnership with the District Council. Responses such as this make that sound like total humbug.’

The true cost of the bus consultation

Yesterday at County Hall in Hertfordshire Conservatives failed to listen to two motions asking them to call a halt to their planned£1.7m of cuts to bus services in the County.

After consulting with the public earlier this year and 13,000 people asking them to stop their planned cuts, they decided to ignore the resounding “No” they had received from the public, and start another round of consultation on more proposed cuts.

Stephen Giles-Medhurst, (LibDem), Leader of the opposition on HCC, commented, “The Conservatives at County Hall have admitted that the consultation they have chosen to ignore cost local taxpayers over £16,000 for printed materials.  What they haven’t disclosed is how much the Council Tax payers of Hertfordshire have paid for the salaries of the five staff who worked on this full-time for 4 months. Instead they could have been working with local bus operators, user groups, the NHS and local Councils to find ways of improving bus services and usage, as well as reducing costs.”

UPDATE to Govia Thameslink Railway December 2015 timetable consultation document 

Please note we have clarified the wording of questions 3 and 4 (Thameslink North services) to make clear that the proposals here only relate to overnight services. We trust this provides important clarification.

The peak, daytime and evening Thameslink North services in December 2015 are planned to continue with the same patterns north of London Blackfriars as will be operated from January 2015. The proposed changes relates to overnight services only.

Details of the proposed changes can be found on our websites www.thameslinkrailway.com, www.greatnorthernrail.com or www.southernrailway.com

You will be able to respond to the consultation either by e mail on gtr.timetableconsultation@gtrailway.com or by post

Govia Thameslink Railway launches consultation on December 2015 timetable

On Friday 7 November 2014, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) launched a 12 week consultation with passengers and stakeholders on the proposed off peak timetable which will be introduced in December 2015 to pave the way for the new expanded Thameslink network of 2018.

Details of the proposed changes can be found on www.southernrailway.com and on www.thameslinkrailway.com/about-us/news

You will be able to respond to the consultation either by e mail on gtr.timetableconsultation@gtrailway.com(from Friday 14 November 2014) or by post (details below).

If you require a hard copy of the document please contact:

GTR Dec 2015 Consultation
FREEPOST LON15973
Croydon
CR0 1ZY

Views needed on performance of Thameslink service

Rail users can still suggest questions for St Albans City and District Council’s Local Services Scrutiny Committee to raise at its next meeting about Thameslink.

They can also attend the meeting on 4 December to hear the Committee question managers from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Network Rail on the service’s performance.

Earlier this month rail users were invited to send in their views and questions about service to the Committee. This will be the Committee’s first meeting about Thameslink since GTR took on responsibility for the franchise on Sunday 14 September.

Councillor Anthony Rowlands, Chair of the Local Services Scrutiny Committee, who is a daily commuter to London, said: “The Committee is grateful for the questions we have already received. Residents have until Friday 21 November to send any further questions for us to consider. They can also attend the public meeting to hear management from Govia and Network Rail questioned about Thameslink’s performance.”

 

Opportunity to question performance of Thameslink service

Rail users are invited to give views on Thameslink’s performance to St Albans City and District Council’s Local Services Scrutiny Committee ahead of its next meeting.

The Committee will question managers from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Network Rail about the performance of the train service at a meeting on Thursday 4 December. They include Justin Page, Area Director East Midlands at Network Rail which is responsible for maintaining the rail network, including the track and signals. Larry Heyman, Integration and Partnership Manager at the rail operator GTR, will also be questioned.

This will be the Scrutiny Committee’s first meeting with the new rail operator since GTR took on responsibility for the Thameslink franchise on Sunday 14 September.

The Committee wants to hear from local residents about their experiences travelling on Thameslink to see if the train service has improved or not. If you have any views, issues or questions that you want the Committee to consider, please email them to scrutiny@stalbans.gov.uk by Friday 21 November. You can also write to the Scrutiny Officer at St Albans City and District Council, Civic Centre, St Peter’s Street, St Albans AL1 3JE.

Councillor Anthony Rowlands, Chair of the Local Services Scrutiny Committee, who is a daily commuter to London, said: “This will be the first opportunity for this committee to question the management of Govia Thameslink Railway since the franchise change in September. We want to see if passengers have noticed any improvement in the service. Please let us know your views ahead of the meeting and any questions or issues you want us to consider raising.”

 

The meeting on 4 December will be webcast and can be viewed on the Council’s website at http://www.stalbans.public-i.tv/core/.

Conservatives defy 12,000 petitioners and  demand £1.5m more is cut from bus services

Despite over twelve thousand Herts residents petitioning for bus services to be protected the Conservatives in County Hall are still determined to slash bus services across the County.

At yesterday’s County Council Highways and Transport Panel Tories voted down proposals from the Liberal Democrats that would have protected bus services and saved £753,000. Instead they chose to ignore their own public consultation which showed only 30 people out of 4,548  supported cuts in services and also ignored 10 petitions totalling over 12,000 signatures from local residents opposing cuts.

Instead the Conservatives  have pushed through plans for a new consultation on cutting £1m from the bus budget. (more…)