Government must "get to grips" with South Western Railway failure

Reacting to the news that South Western Railway could lose its franchise after declaring a £137 million loss, Liberal Democrat councillor for Trinity Paul Kohler has said:

“For far too long Merton’s residents have had to put up with shoddy performance from South Western Railway.

“Most of the promises of improved performance that South Western Railway made to passengers have not been met. Since the operator took over the franchise in 2017 our local train services have been plagued by delays, unreliability and strikes, culminating in the 27 day strike in December which caused misery for commuters over the Christmas period.”

Taking the line into public ownership would not however be a sustainable long term solution to poor performance, said Cllr Kohler.

“The Conservative government’s franchising model has clearly been a failure. Local people have been let down by their public transport for years and are not getting anything close to value for money. South Western Railway’s failure should not have come as news to the government if it had been paying attention. It’s high time the government got to grips with the situation.

“Taking the railway line into public ownership however will not solve the underlying problems with our rail services. What is needed is a long term and sustainable solution that will make train operators more responsive to local needs and hold them accountable for poor performance.

“We need radical new thinking, not the tired politics and short term fixes being offered by the Conservatives and Labour. That is why Liberal Democrats are calling for fundamental reform of the rail franchising model to open up the bidding process to local authorities, not-for profits and mutuals, build a stronger focus on customers and investment into franchising agreements, and improve powers to sanction or sack failing operators like South Western Railway.”