The Brighton Belle was famous for
its kippers. Laurence Olivier would take a leisurely breakfast back to his home in Ashurst in Sussex on the train after a West End triumph, reading the theatre reviews. The train began life in June 1934 and most of the brown and cream Pullman carriages – the only electric Pullman carriages in the world – survived the war, holed up in the Crystal Palace High Level Station, now a housing estate.
The Brighton Belle only took an hour
to go the 51 miles from Victoria to Brighton, and it left every day at noon,
pulling into the seaside at one o’clock on the dot. Along with the Golden Arrow
boat train to Paris, it was the jewel in the crown of the old Southern
Railways. It lasted until the 1970s. Southern’s successors have clearly not
managed to keep up the reputation for luxury.
It is worth remembering the great
days of Southern rail because, although it is a different shape to the GTR
franchise now – which covers the Great Northern franchise as well, and rather
bizarrely has a registered office in Newcastle – it is not entirely dissimilar.
One difference is that the old
Southern Railways used to go as far as Cornwall, operating out of the biggest
and most complex of all the London railway terminals, at Waterloo. But it also
had a reputation for extreme efficiency, which none of the other Big Four
railway companies, operating from 1923 to 1948, managed to attain – then or
now.
That efficiency appears to have been
disposed of quietly, along with the reputation, and the luxury of the Brighton
Belle replaced with the kind of functional Gatwick Express coaches without
legroom or anywhere to put hot drinks – and which appear to have been designed
so they can be hosed down easily.
More on this in my short book about
the Southern crisis Cancelled!
I’ve written this blog because, now
that we approach the train drivers’ strike, I’ve been thinking about Laurence
Olivier, but also the French novelist Emile Zola, whose Dreyfusard open letter J’accuse in 1898 forced him into exile in Crystal Palace. It isn’t my intention
to be forced into exile, though living in the Southern Rail franchise at the
moment does feel a little like that.
But equally, after finding it
extremely hard to do my job – and therefore earn money (I employ myself) – I feel
like making my own version of J’accuse about the ridiculous situation at Govia
Thameslink and the Southern franchise.
So these are the guilty individuals.
They don’t include GTR CEO Charles Horton nor rail minister Paul Maynard.
Neither have any real room for manoeuvre: they are ciphers, unable to prevent
the closedown of train services to Sussex, even if they were willing to. Though
they are complicit.
But I should certainly include RMT
leader Mick Cash and Aslef leader Mick Whelan for their lack of
concern for the people who depend on their members, for their violent rhetoric (kicking in the teeth and all that).
And for letting Southern off the hook for the consequences of their understaffing
– allowing the government to shift to their favourite strike rhetoric. And
Peter Wilkinson at the Department of Transport, responsible for the useless GTR
franchise contract.
It expect it will infuriate them to
see themselves and their great enemies grouped into the same paragraph, but I
don’t have the power to do more than annoy, ever so mildly.
And note, the semi-retired and the managers
are able to choose to stay at home to avoid the uncertainty and the disruption.
Those who are suffering are the low-paid who have to commute, who work in
retailing or those going to job interviews – and who appear to be having job offers withdrawn when managers discover they are relying on GTR.
I have huge respect for the ordinary
frontline staff on Southern, who put themselves on the line over and over again
since the spring to support embattled passengers. But their union leaders and
the GTR managers and the politicians hate each other so much, and are so
obsessed with each other, that they don’t notice the human consequences of the
current unravelling.
But I accuse two other people most
of all:
1. Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, who does so little to
support beleaguered passengers, and is ultimately responsible for the
dysfunctional contract which has caused all the trouble.
2. Andrew Allner, the rather shadowy chairman of the Go-Ahead Group
which owns 60 per cent of GTR and who is ultimately responsible for their
failure to recruit the staff they need – and for cutting anyone else on the
platforms not actually screwed down.
Both have other pressures on them, Grayling
from the Treasury and Allner from the stock market – big fleas have bigger
fleas upon their backs to bite them – but they are the people who are taking,
and have taken, the decisions which led to where we are.
Grayling’s proposal to hand over
control of the track and infrastructure to the franchise holders is a very
small step in the right direction. The idea of separating them was enforced by
the European Commission on the Major government and certainly did not constrain
Sir Herbert Walker.
But what else are Grayling or Allner
doing? Grayling appears to be relishing the situation now that it has come down to a
strike, but what about us? Where are the chartered buses? Where are the chartered
late night taxis? Where are the signs that the government has any concern about
the impact on the Sussex economy, on its polluted atmosphere from the resulting
traffic, on its wrecked lives? All we get are more security guards.
And, please, there is nothing about
the government’s vision of a human-free railway that is in any sense
modernising.
The industrial action has now begun, and will cause even more disruption until Christmas - and there is no reason to believe the chaos won't go on afterwards. So why is nobody responsible resigning?
See my book Cancelled! on the Southern Railways disaster, now on sale for £1.99 (10p goes to Railway Benefit Fund).
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