Following a week of chaos on the London Waterloo – Winchester line in early June 2011, Steve Brine MP wrote to SWT on behalf of thousands of upset and severely inconvenienced local commuters. The Winchester & Chandler's Ford MP is now pleased to learn that SWT have announced that passengers who experienced the chaotic delays that week will be compensated.
In response to Mr Brine, a SWT spokesman said that the 'root cause' of the havoc in the early part of the week was a major Network Rail signalling problem over a four mile stretch of track in Weybridge. This, he said, ultimately deprived South West Trains of all of its four lines for a total of four hours, and two of its lines for a further four hours.
Likening it to the M3 losing 75% of its capacity for several hours, he said serious delays were 'inevitable'.
Continuing to explain the problems on 9th-10th June, an 'unusually high number of external events', including a suicide, a damaged bridge, cable theft, and a passenger being taken ill were all said to have contributed, along with a Network Rail signal failure around Clapham Junction. The failure, he said, took Network Rail 'considerable time' to locate after it failed a second time, before the fault was eventually rectified.
He said: "Collectively, there is no doubt that on 9th June, our joint control centre did not manage to communicate to our guards or stations in an effective manner. As a result, they were largely unable to provide good information to our passengers and I would like to apologise for that failure."
Regarding the suicide, he continued: "It is a sad fact of life that several people choose to use the railway to take their own lives. As you can imagine, this often has a devastating impact on our train crew as well as causing huge delays for passengers. When such an incident occurs, both Network Rail and South West Trains are obliged to wait until either the Civil Police or the British Transport Police investigate the site and circumstances and until the relevant police force have come to an official view as to whether the fatality was 'suspicious' or 'non suspicious'."
SWT have put in place a compensation package for customers affected on 6th and 9th June, and have announced a review which is expected to be completed by August.
Mr Brine said: "I do of course understand the issues surrounding the tragic suicide on the line, and the fact that several unfortunate incidents combined in the most frustrating manner but this particular two days on the railway for my constituents who complete the exhausting daily commute to earn a living up in town was especially difficult and it's good to get to the bottom of it.
"I am re-assured that SWT and Network Rail are taking this issue seriously, and while I accept the 'accidents happen', I will expect to see progress in terms of contingency and how they deal with issues like this in the future, and will be keeping a close eye for my fellow commuters."
Pictured; A passenger boards a South West Train (courtesy of www.passengerfocus.org.uk)
More information...
For details of the compensation available, commuters should visit www.southwesttrains.co.uk
