Sir Nicholas said; “It was a very useful meeting convened by the Rail Minister, Claire Perry MP, with the senior Management of Southern and Thameslink (GTR), Network Rail and the Office of the Rail Regulator.  All MPs present were in total agreement about the wholly unacceptable state of the service provided and the need for better compensation arrangements, flow of information and all round general improvements. 

 

“I have insisted and all the companies have agreed that they will publish monthly reports against their new programme of improvements so that passengers will be aware of the nature of future works.  This is not going to be easy to fix; it is not always the fault of the train operators, but there has to be a radical refocus on service. 

 

“We will all be watching this situation very carefully and the Minister left them in no doubt of her determination to hold them to account for dramatic improvements. Various separate points were raised about Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and East Grinstead etc.”