Southern Rail in meltdown
Southern Rail is in absolute meltdown. Every day Croydon commuters suffer the misery of cancellations, delays, strikes and over-crowding on their journey to and from work. This nightmare has dragged on for two years now with the Government refusing to act.
Now, Government ministers have forced through a fare rise for the New Year so Croydon commuters will have to pay even more to endure the worst train services in the country.
Croydon North MP Steve Reed has blamed the Government for allowing the service to deteriorate and for keeping Southern Rail in place instead of sacking them.
He said:
The Government must sack Southern Rail immediately, hand their failing services to Transport for London and cancel the fare hikes as an apology to long-suffering passengers. Before the General Election Tory MPs said they would sack Southern if elected, but now they’re in power they have broken their promise and are propping them up instead. It’s a slap in the face for every commuter that the Tory Transport Secretary says he’d rather keep the services as they are than give the Mayor of London the chance to improve them.
Steven Reed is Labour MP for Croydon North and Shadow Minister for Children and Families. In 2018 his private member’s bill on reducing violent mental health restraint became law. In June 2019 he launched Labour’s civil society strategy outlining radical plans to empower citizens and communities.
Steve chairs the Cooperative Councils Innovation Network, co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for London, was Leader of Lambeth Council 2006-12 where he led the council’s children’s services to become best-rated in the country and pioneered the public-health approach to tackling violent youth crime. He worked in publishing for 16 years and was an elected trade union branch secretary.