Some further feedback - quoting here as an informing experience
Network Rail should do the responsible thing and suspend the works pending an investigation into Southern's ability to manage the situation. I've no doubt that this set up was resourced to the bare bones as with every other part of the railway. As a (former) daily commuter on the line there have been several occasions of extreme overcrowding in recent years that I'd define as a near miss and should have been investigated. I wasn't there today but my wife was, she returned home after a five hour journey from Victoria this afternoon feeling pretty distraught after this afternoon's events .
To Update everyone, Angie Doll (Passenger Service Director Southern) called me firstly to apologise of course and to thank all the people of Redhill who took their cars down to the station and gave lifts. Great people, well done you have our thanks too.
We then had a conversation about next week, she agreed that a better replacement bus service was needed and would provide next week. We also suggested Gatwick Passengers being sent to East Grinstead to spread the load and she said she would look into. We also pointed out that the trains were inadequate for capacity as well and she took that on. Hopefully we will have an update next week.
On the face of it, it ( the chaos at Redhill) looks like an entirely foreseeable outcome that could have been avoided.
The parties involved (gtr, southern, NR» ) have no interest in, or commercial incentive to, make arrangements to provide anything for the people who pay to use their services, let alone in adverse or unusual circumstances.
The economic model is not fit for purpose. (As we know, but this is further evidence).
What are the consequences of yesterday’s fiasco for anyone at NR, gtr or southern?
Let's be absolutely clear where the blame lies. It's with Chris Grayling and Jo Johnson - their departments micromanagement and criminal underfunding of GTR under the Management Contract is the root cause of all the issues.
Politically it is very small in their daily work as they look after trains cars and planes all over the UK▸ . We need local representation to run our trains services like TfL» in London where Sadiq is directly responsible for Londoners trains services and accordingly accountable.
Planning wise it looks like around 750 bus seats per hour were put on to replace over 2500 train seats per hour (thats not counting thameslink). How could this ever have worked?
In answer to that latter, amazingly, it could have worked. From personal experience, passenger numbers shrivel when the journey is degraded to a rail replacement bus ... perhaps one passenger on the bus for every 4 or 5 who would have been on a train. I suspect that whoever was planning for Redhill knew this general rule of shrinkage, but neglected to take into account that the rule isn't a fixed one - people are likely to not go / find alternatives on short journeys which are leisure, but still have to make their long distance trips and especially need things like connections to Gatwick Airport!
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