The transport secretary has expressed sympathy for commuters in Reading who have to ‘cram’ into trains at peak times and suffer cancellations.
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, was at Reading train station to launch the publication of service cancellations by train operator to inform commuters.
According to the latest figures over a four week period, 76.5 per cent of trains were within three minutes of scheduled arrival times, and 3.4 per cent were cancelled.
Mrs Alexander said: “For the first time ever, we are providing information at 1700 stations across the country about the punctuality and reliability of local services and we are also providing information about what we’re doing to fix it.
“So here at Reading, we will see on the board information about the Thames Valley recovery plan that Network Rail have been working on to try and address some of the problems with that are creating delays, and so I want to be open and honest.
“And I want people to hold us and the people who are running the trains to account.”
She then voiced sympathy for passengers as the Labour MP for Swindon South.
Mrs Alexander said: “As someone who represents Swindon and uses the Great Western Railway service out of Paddington on a regular basis I know how frustrating it is when you’re crammed into the area by the doors for your journey, and so making sure that we’ve got the right length trains operating to meet the demand, is really critical and that’s a piece of work that we’re doing across the whole of the country.”
The government is funding 12 Cross Country trains that will be operational this May to increase its capacity to runs trains from Reading to Bournemouth and Manchester.
The information for on-time trains and cancellations is being published using existing screens at stations.
She said: “You can find this information buried away on the office for Rail and Road website. But I want to pull this out into the open because I think that sunlight is the best disinfectant.
“We want to have a new era of accountability and transparency on our railways and you know, it’s really important that everyone that is working on the railways knows that this is a top priority for this Labour government, to improve reliability and performance because people want to know that they can have a punctual, comfortable service and that the we will rebuild trust in the railways.”
The secretary was accompanied by Matt Rodda, the Labour MP for Reading Central and Olivia Bailey, the Labour MP for Reading West and Mid Berkshire, who echoed passenger concerns about overcrowding and cancellations.
Mrs Bailey said: “Anybody who uses Reading regularly like us knows.
“It’s very, very frustrating when there are so many delays to the trains and this government, in its plan for change, is just trying to turn that around.
“This screen everybody can see is going to help drive transparency, to understand the challenges that there are and to get towards the better services that we need to see.”
Mr Rodda added: “This is a practical step forward. People are going to come up the escalator and see it, and it’s going to provide useful information to commuters and other rail travellers to Help people understand if there have been problems so they know what’s happening with their trains.”
The launch took place earlier today (Thursday, March 6).
