BRITISH RAIL HANGOVER LEAVES THOUSANDS STRANDED

21-05-2007

Two rail routes were cancelled in the West Midlands yesterday, forcing up to 150 trains off the tracks. It’s the second time in six months that passengers have suffered a Sunday morning hangover which dates back to the days of British Rail.

Local rail operator Central Trains has confirmed there were no services on either the Cross City line from Lichfield to Redditch or on the Birmingham to Walsall line.

Thousands of passengers were forced to use buses instead.

It’s an historical anomaly dating back to the days of the nationalised railways that staff are not obliged to work on a Sunday, and if too few volunteer for duty, the trains simply can’t run.

Quite why there was a problem this weekend remains unclear - although The Stirrer’s union sources suggest their members may have been exercising a grievance against management.

Some national services were also affected, but it was local passengers who had to bear the brunt of action - just as they did in December when a similar dispute also halted local Sunday services.

Central Trains spokesman Ged Burgess said: “Sunday is not part of the working week for our staff but we normally have enough volunteers. We can only apologise to customers for the disruption caused.”

Burgess was confident that the situation would be back to normal this weekend, but admitted there was no guarantee.

As he says, “In British rail days, it was much less of an issue because people didn’t go shopping on a Sunday”.

It’s a fair point, although it still seems a remarkable oversight that the issue has never been resolved in the ten years of Central Trains control.

The company is due to lose its franchise in November, although it’s not yet clear which of two rival operators will take over their routes.

It remains to be seen whether the Department for Transport is any more successful in persuading the eventual winner to strike a deal that won’t leave passengers stranded.