Apology from Transport Secretary for Christmas rail chaos

Thousands of journeys were delayed after major London stations King's Cross and Paddington failed to re-open as planned on December 27 because maintenance work, which included track replacement and signalling work, was not completed on schedule.

Yesterday, answering an urgent question posed by Labour on the first Commons sitting of 2015, Patrick McLoughlin said: "As I made clear at the time of the disruption at King's Cross and Paddington after Christmas, it was totally unacceptable - passengers deserve a reliable rail service, they deserve clear information and they deserve rapid help when things go wrong.

"I am sorry in this case they did not get this."

Shadow transport secretary Michael Dugher was granted the urgent question by Speaker John Bercow and told the Commons the problems had caused "misery for passengers".

He said: "In his new year message, the Prime Minister said Britain faced a choice - competence or chaos - ministers at the Department for Transport clearly didn't get the memo because we saw a combination of both chaos and incompetence on our rail network, resulting in misery for passengers who have seen their fares rocket by more than 20%.

"Of course it was right Network Rail accepted their responsibility, so too should the contractors.

"But isn't it also time for you to accept your share of the responsibility for what happened?"

In his statement to MPs, Mr McLoughlin outlined the work which had been planned, and also paid tribute to 11,000 engineers working across the railways during the Christmas period.

At King's Cross, Mr McLoughlin said the Network Rail scheme was aimed at replacing seven sets of points and crossings, laying more than 1,000 metres of track and 12,000 tonnes of ballast.

"This work needed to be done and was planned for Christmas to limit the impact," Mr McLoughlin said.

"It had been planned to reopen two lines on December 27 and operate a limited service in and out of King's Cross. Some elements of the work took longer than expected and the decision was taken to run an alternative service terminating at Finsbury Park.

"As a result, many passenger journeys were seriously delayed and disrupted."

Work at Paddington involved signals but safety testing meant instead of re-opening on the morning of December 27, all lines were blocked after Ealing Broadway until the afternoon.

Mr McLoughlin said: "Neither of these situations should have occurred."

He added: "It is inevitable, major investment in the railways will from time to time mean some disruption but all of us who use the railways need Network Rail to complete vital engineering works like these on time - as most of its other schemes were."

The Transport Secretary said he had worked with Network Rail on a response and told MPs a report would be published by the end of this week.

He said questions about timing of major works programmes had to be answered.

Mr McLoughlin said: "The industry's conventional wisdom is it is generally better to carry out major work over holiday periods when passenger numbers are lighter than usual.

"I and my officials were briefed on key elements of Network Rail's engineering programme and the associated planned change to services. We were not, however, involved in the planning for operational aspects of the work programme, or the contingency planning - that is as it should be.

"Network Rail is an operationally independent body and it needs to be able to get on with its job without political interference.

"But when it gets things wrong, it will be held to account."

Mr Dugher said more than 200 engineering sites overran their schedules, leading to "appalling disruption".

He said an October report from the Office of Rail Regulation should have been a signal to ministers of the risks posed in the Christmas works.

The shadow minister said: "What assurances were sought by ministers the Boxing Day shutdown was robust enough and contingencies were in place and that there was sufficient resilience in the system to ensure continued disruption would not run into the weekend?

"Where were ministers through all of the rail chaos? They went Awol. It was only after days of disarray you finally put down your selection box and leapt into action, releasing a statement on the Saturday evening in a desperate attempt to shift the blame entirely to others."

He added: "This happened on the Government's watch. The warning signs were in place. You have spoken about the lessons that must be learned - isn't it the case lessons must be learned by ministers too and an apology made to the travelling public?"

The Transport Secretary accused his Labour shadow of writing his response before bothering to listen to the answer to the urgent question.

He said: "I'm sorry you didn't hear me apologise... I have made clear what happened was unacceptable.

"But I have to say all we heard from you was empty noise from a party with no plan and no ideas - from a man who was special advisor at the Department for Transport when Railtrack collapsed and the network fell apart, from someone who knows all about chaos because that is exactly what you caused then."

Mr McLoughlin added: "I was in constant touch with Network Rail - yes, I issued a statement on the Saturday. Just to take you through these things, Christmas Day was a Thursday, Friday was when the problem occurred - I spoke to (chief executive of Network Rail) Mark Carne on the Saturday and the Friday.

"I would also point out... this was the biggest set of engineering works taking place over Christmas. Are you saying the Secretary of State should say to Network Rail which safety aspects, which bits of engineering works, they should not do?

"Is that going to be the kind of micro management we see from you?"

Mr McLoughlin later accepted that the decision to terminate trains at Finsbury Park was "never really an option".

He told MPs: "It was an attempt in certain ways to try to help some passengers but actually I think in hindsight, Finsbury Park was never really an option to have main trains terminating there and perhaps should not have been done.

"But to have done that would have meant cancelling ... a lot of trains that people were relying on."

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), whose constituency includes the station, asked the Transport Secretary to thank the staff there for coping under such "utterly impossible" circumstances.

He also asked for a meeting to discuss the station's future and insisted there needed to be a serious examination of its capacity problem, "dangerously overcrowded" underground platforms and the mixed management between TfL and the mainline operator.

Mr McLoughlin thanked the staff and agreed to a meeting, possibly at the station itself.

Ukip's Douglas Carswell (Clacton) said he had written to the minister in early December warning that Network Rail was "incompetent" and "unaccountable".

He went on: "Will you consider serious grown-up reform to make sure this public quango is properly and meaningfully accountable to the long-suffering public?"

The Transport Secretary again referred to the "unprecedented" development going on across the railway network, an answer he gave repeatedly throughout his questioning by MPs.

The disruption was proof for many on the Opposition benches, including Labour's Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) and Green MP Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion), of the need to return the railways to public ownership.

She said fragmentation was one of the underlying problems with "no single guiding mind" responsible for providing an integrated railway system.

It was not about nostalgia, she added, but looking at the success of the East Coast Main Line when it was in public ownership and had far better passenger satisfaction.

Mr Hopkins urged the Government to consider the "much better methods" of operation employed by British Rail before the "disaster of privatisation" after which Mr McLoughlin said he was renowned for his "rose tinted glasses".

But Conservative Philip Hollobone (Kettering) said those who yearned for renationalisation needed to remember Network Rail was a public sector operator.

He also called for proper scrutiny of its board and chief executive.

Ukip's Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood) accused Mr McLoughlin of pretending to be in charge when in reality the board reported to its members.

He asked: "Why don't you deal with this preposterous management structure?"

Labour's Diana Johnson (Hull North) suggested the Government consider performance related pay for rail bosses, but Mr McLoughlin said he would take no lessons from Labour on that front.

Conservative Bob Blackman (Harrow East) branded the lack of communication to football fans travelling for Boxing Day fixtures "inexcusable".

He said: "The football fixtures were published in July last year with a full programme of fixtures scheduled for Boxing Day.

"There were no national rail services that day for which there was a decision taken clearly at some stage in the year. What is inexcusable is the fact there was a complete lack of communication to football fans across the country for what alternative arrangements should have been made.

"What can you offer to the inconvenienced football fans who were desperately seeking an alternative way to travel on Boxing Day?"

Mr McLoughlin replied: "One of the things I'm not responsible for and I don't think any member of the Government is responsible for is the fixture lists of the football clubs.

"I think they need to sometimes answer the question as to why some of the fixtures are so far apart in the country at a time when it has been the case for many years that the rail operation does not work because of the engineering work we are trying to do on those particular lines."

He said he did not think fixture lists would be a top priority consideration when future works were planned, but added: "It is obviously something we should take an interest in."