Chair of Richmond Council's Transport and Air Quality Committee has written to the Department for Transport and South Western Railway regarding rail strikes.
Cllr Alexander Ehmann called for significant reflection on the impact of the rail strikes and service failures on communities in Richmond upon Thames.
He highlighted the major issue of how certain areas of the borough have little to no alternative methods of public transport during strikes. He is calling for a fairer solution in the future.
Cllr Alexander Ehmann wrote: “On strike days, we appreciate that it may not be possible to operate all services and stations but there should of course be an effort to provide and publicise as much of a service as possible. However, we consider there was no excuse to basically give up on running a service at so many stations on non-strike days. Outside of Richmond and Twickenham Stations, there was no service to speak of for a prolonged period over the Christmas period at North Sheen, Mortlake, St. Margaret's and Strawberry Hill. In addition, the communication became too complicated with the public having little idea if a train would run or a station would open – whether it was a strike day or not. Indeed it also appears that the Journey Planners could not keep up, with timetabled trains subsequently being cancelled, removed or simply not turning up.
“We have previously raised our concerns regarding the reduction of services at our local stations during lockdown which have not been fully reinstated, including at North Sheen, St. Margaret's and Whitton. The strikes made things much worse but the dire situation was compounded by the added uncertainty of trains would be running on non-strike days.
“I realise the solution involves both the railway companies and unions but, in the event of future strikes, South Western Railway must make a greater effort to run as much of the service as possible and should certainly not cancel services and close stations masse on non-strike days. Wholesale station closures leaving some communities with a service and others without are unacceptable – a greater effort is needed to provide a more equitable service. We need to be encouraging greater use of the railway to assist economic recovery and support climate change objectives but people will not return to the railway if the service is as unreliable as it has been, irrespective of whether there is a strike.”
It was appalling to close Mortlake station for 3 weeks. The suggestion to use Barnes or Barnes Bridge was useless for those who needed step free access.
He, like the rest of us (who are bothered or affected), might well have grave reservations (no pun intended) about effect on the rail strikes. Maybe, the RMT Union might speed up their decision, whether or not to put the latest decent pay offer to it’s members.Maybe, he plea will be heard and acted upon by ASLEF.I doubt it, the unions seem in no hurry. Well they messed up Christmas holidays, now is it the turn of schools February half term.What next Easter, Cornation Bank Holiday?
It’s not just about pay, as I suspect you know very well. However, keep peddling the propaganda, and ignore the fact that the Sunak regime has now spent more of OUR money on prolonging these disputes than it would have cost to settle them. I wonder if you were one of those who applauded our key workers during the pandemic? How quickly some forget.