Sir Nicholas Soames MP today chaired a meeting of 10 Members of Parliament including; Nick Herbert (Arundel and South Downs), Jeremy Quin (Horsham), Nusrat Ghani (Wealden), Maria Caulfield (Lewes) and the other Members present were from other local constituencies.
The meeting was attended by Claire Perry MP, Minister at the Department for Transport, responsible for the railways.
Matters discussed included the unacceptable unreliability of the service, the continuing problem of staff not turning up for their shifts, over-crowding and the need to refine and make the system of compensation more effective.
The new timetable was also discussed and all present agreed that it had further inconvenienced local people and had led to ever greater over-crowding.
The Minister responded in a very helpful manner and assured those present that a plan was being urgently considered and will be brought forward in two or three weeks.
Sir Nicholas said: “The Minister was in agreement with the thrust of the complaints made and is determined to get a much better performance from not only Southern Railway, but also more importantly from Network Rail, whose responsibility it is to deliver the lines and all the associated equipment.
I look forward to making a further report in two to three weeks when we will have a clear idea of how the Minister intends to proceed.”