Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with representatives of Southern Rail on the effect of the May 2018 timetable changes on commuters travelling across south west London.

The new timetable across Southern commenced on Sunday 20 May and there have been wholly unsatisfactory levels of disruption on those rail services since then. A combination of delayed Network Rail infrastructure works and reduced time to plan a modified timetable meant that the new timetable was finalised much too late to permit adequate logistical planning for the timetable changes. I am determined both that the problems are dealt with as quickly as possible, and that this is not repeated in the future.

We have been in regular contact with the leadership of Network Rail and GTR since the new timetable was introduced, and I and the Secretary of State continue to monitor the situation closely. We are speaking to those involved on a daily basis and we have insisted that both organisations put whatever resource they need to into resolving the situation, and in making sure that there is proper leadership of the recovery effort.

Once these problems are resolved, we will have a much better service for passengers. That is small comfort at the moment when things are not working as they should, but once we are through this difficult period we will have a better railway, with more frequent and better connected journeys for passengers across the Southern Metro routes, including the Wimbledon loop and the West London line.