Issue - meetings

Representatives of the Letchworth Rail User Group, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee regarding the problems faced by commuters and other rail users following the introduction of a new timetable.

Audio recording – Start of Item – Session 3 – 1 hour 19 minutes 18 seconds

Mr Steven Rose, Ms Leanne Stott and Mr Steve McMullen, Committee Members, Letchworth Rail User Group, thanked the Chairman for inviting them to address the Committee regarding the new rail timetable as follows:

·                The Rail User Group was set up last year in response to the timetable consultation by Govia;

·                The group had 900 members;

·                This was mainly a Facebook group with were no subscription fees;

·                They had been lobbying Govia, the Department for Transport and the MP;

·                They were working with the Royston and Ashwell User Groups;

·                They were the main source of information regarding trains;

·                There would be a public meeting on 13 June 2018 in La Concha;

·                A new timetable was introduced on 20 May, with the aim of connecting Letchworth to the Thameslink train service;

·                Implementation of the timetable had been chaotic with up to 35% of trains being cancelled;

·                Currently there seemed to be an emergency timetable in operation.

·                Many of the stopping trains had been cancelled;

·                Govia still wanted to implement the timetable;

·                Originally Letchworth would lose all non-stop trains into London, although though lobbying 5 non-stop trains had been re-introduced;

·                Some fast trains in the off-peak hours had been removed resulting in a 30 minute longer journey into and out of London;

·                Some limited concessions had been achieved;

·                The group had produced a White Paper that detailed some solutions and demands;

Mr Rose concluded by asking Members to lobby the Department of Transport.

Councillor Needham advised that the Council had asked for a meeting with all rail user groups and would go to either Chris Grayling and or the local MP.

Mr McMullen advised that the uncertainty of whether trains would run was stressful and the biggest challenge at the moment was communication regarding which services were actually running.

Members agreed that communication was a big problem. They noted that the timetable in itself was a problem and this was compounded by the lack of trained drivers.

Councillor Hone advised that the County Council was also taking action and the Leader of the County Council had written to the Minister all of the local MPs He suggested that all information and letters etc be copied into County Councillor Derrick Ashley, Executive Member for transport.

Members queried whether there was any information as to when the current situation would be resolved.

Mr Rose advised that the more organisation that can lobby the better

The Chairman thanked Mr Rose, Ms Stott and Mr McMullen for their presentation.