Rail misery strikes again

As rail strikes hit Rye yet again on September 7-8, angry commuters are calling for Southern Railway either to take control over a service that is rapidly deteriorating or for the government to step in and restore order to chaos.

Although Southern ticket office staff called off their proposed action for Wednesday, September 7, the RMT union went ahead with its Wednesday and Thursday stoppages in the long-running dispute over the proposal to alter the role of conductors and have driver-only operation of the doors (DOO).

And following a meeting on Tuesday, September 6, to discuss the deteriorating situation, rail pressure group Marsh Link Action Group (MLAG) has contacted Southern to press the case against DOO. “We think that all trains should have two competent members of staff on board and we will be making our views known to Southern and to local politicians,” said MLAG chairman Stuart Harland.

“There are safety concerns. Although infrequent, if there is an accident, the most exposed person is the driver and there needs to be someone else there directing operations.”

Only last month, Home Secretary and Rye MP Amber Rudd told Rye News editor John Minter that she was cautiously optimistic that we had probably seen the end of the strikes. On Tuesday, September 6, she joined Battle MP Huw Merriman to issue a joint statement about the strikes in which they called on Southern management to “minimize passenger disruption”.

“We would also point out to the RMT, as we have done to Southern’s management, that none of this technology will be used on Southern services in our constituencies so we implore the RMT to accept the deal on the table and help deliver a better service to our constituents,” they stated.

The only relief for long-suffering Rye passengers was that the buses hired to replace axed Rye shuttle trains at peak hours, were still scheduled to run during the strike, although this limited service gives just six shuttle buses per day in each direction.

Yet on Wednesday, the first day of the strike, the buses were sparking disputes with passengers. Two buses were scheduled to make the run to Ashford, one calling at Appledore and Ham Street and the other going straight to Ashford. On Wednesday the two at 7:06am went in convoy to all stations and threfore missed London connections.

“It’s like living in the 1950s,” said commuter Michael Ryland. “It’s happening all the time in both directions. Southern should be sacked.”

MLAG’s Stuart Harland said that the group had immediately contacted Southern to try to get them to discuss the issue with the bus operators.

At the station, commuters were angry. “This is the thin end of the wedge for Rye,” said charity executive Katie Evans, who commutes daily to London. “The trains are the lifeblood of the town. People want to move here and tourists want to visit – they all bring money to the area but they’re being stumped at every turn. This is such a beautiful place – why are they treating it like this? If you’re cutting off the people who want to be part of it, you’re signing its death warrant.

“I moved here because of the good train service but I didn’t pay all that money to get a bus home at night.”

Sales director Sue Eton-McCumiskey said it was time to strip Southern of its franchise. “I’m paying a lot of money for a ticket and not getting the service. If they’re not running the service I’ve paid for, they shouldn’t charge for the Rye extension.”

Southern originally said the buses would run for as short a time as possible, but passengers at Rye reported staff from the bus company saying that the service was booked until December.

However, a spokesman for Southern Trains said on Tuesday, September 6: “We are working towards full restoration of the timetable towards the end of October. This is our intention which we hope to deliver on and confirm in the coming weeks. We have a team of people working full time on restoring services and have already brought back a third of the trains that were taken out. The remainder will follow, as we said, in the coming weeks.”

MLAG’s Stuart Harland pointed out that the current trains cannot in any case operate as driver-only. “Even if the RMT caved in and agreed to DOO it would make no difference to the trains on our line,” he said. “In the booking office staff dispute, some of them are going to be moved out of the booking offices during peak hours. But that doesn’t apply to Rye. So the two main areas of conflict with the RMT don’t apply to our line, yet when they go on strike we lose all our services.

“It seems the franchise requires Southern to bring in DOO. We think the government ought to withdraw that requirement.”