'Radical overhaul' needed for Biggleswade and Sandy rail services says MP as bosses' response 'falls short'

That’s according to North East Beds MP Richard Fuller who had hoped an action plan to address ongoing issues would provide a more reliable service and fewer cancellations for rail users.

But he said he was disappointed with the response from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and will be meeting rail bosses on Monday (October 20) to push for further improvements.

Mr Fuller said he had outlined the myriad issues that ‘blighted the lives of those rail users unfortunate enough to rely on the train service from Sandy and Biggleswade’, during a meeting with GTR’s chief executive.

He said: “Regrettably (the action plan) falls short of the robust, detailed and benchmarked plan that I was hoping for. I fear that whilst most of the initiatives are positive and deserve a guarded welcome, the overall package falls short of the radical overhaul required to adequately address the scale of failings.

"The improvements will be modest at best and on such an extended timetable that they will offer only the tiniest crumbs of comfort to my long-suffering constituents. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the high level of sickness drops back to more manageable levels now that summer is over.”

“I will be meeting again with GTR at a 'drop-in' event in Parliament on Monday, October 20, and push them to improve the situation.”

GTR apologised for the disruption caused by cancellations over the summer which they put down to annual leave, sickness and shortage of drivers. It said its action plan included recruiting more drivers, increase availability of current drivers with more training so drivers could drive more sections of its rail routes.

A spokesperson said: “Our recent performance at Sandy and Biggleswade has been below what we and our customers expect. We are sorry for the disruption caused and were pleased to meet Richard to talk through some of the challenges and our plans to improve.

“Over the summer, a combination of higher than expected levels of short-term sickness has unfortunately coincided with peak annual leave period of drivers at some of our depots. This has resulted in lower numbers of drivers being available to drive, resulting in cancellations. We know how disruptive this is for our customers and know that they deserve a much-improved, reliable service, which is why we are taking a range of actions to reduce cancellations.

“We are working hard on our plans to put this right. Firstly, while not an immediate fix, we are in the process of expanding our overall driver headcount to provide more resilience and enable more services to run in the years ahead.

"The drive recruitment programme, which is already under way, will increase our total Thameslink and Great Northern driver establishment by around 90, or roughly an eight per cent increase in the total number of drivers. Secondly, we are taking a number of actions to increase the availability of our existing drivers.

"We have increased our number of driver managers to improve the ratio between driver managers and drivers so each manager can give more personalised support to their teams. New forecasting tools will give us more notice of potential issues with availability, enabling us to respond more effectively. We are also investing more in our occupational health teams to give our drivers better support with their health. We are also proactively managing traincrew availability around peak annual leave - rescheduling non-essential training and medicals to quieter periods.

"Finally, we have instigated increased route learning (so more drivers can drive more sections of route) to give us increased flexibility.

“The new December timetable will also introduce more drivers to the network and we are using the timetable change to review our operational plans and reassess how we manage network disruption.

“The actions we're taking will take some time to take effect, but they are in progress and will help to deliver a more reliable service with fewer cancellations for customers.”

Mr Fuller is calling for anyone who wants to raise any specific issues ahead of his meeting on Monday to email him at [email protected]