Southern commuters launch legal claim as DfT faces fresh scrutiny over its handling of the crisis with National Audit Office investigation
Southern rail commuters announced today they have launched a legal claim in an attempt to force the government to take action over the service.
An application for a judicial review of the Department for Transport's (DfT) handling of the crisis has been filed by lawyers for the Association of British Commuters.
A group spokesperson said: "It is right that our fellow passengers will now play a part in bringing the government to account for the damage Southern rail has caused to so many thousands of lives."
The commuters want a ruling on whether the DfT has failed to hold GTR to account for the breakdown in Southern performance and whether transport secretary Chris Grayling has caused indirect discrimination to disabled passengers.
It comes as the Southern rail crisis – and specifically the government’s handling of it – is being investigated by the National Audit Office (NAO) as part of its report examining progress on the modernisation of Thameslink.
Read more: UK rail reliability figures driven off track by Southern rail chaos
Both Southern and Thameslink are run by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR).
The government has faced calls to take further action on Southern – where passengers have faced months of disruption and industrial action. Discussion remains ongoing as to whether the operator should be stripped of the franchise entirely.
Rail minister Paul Maynard said in a recent letter to the Transport Select Committee chair: "It is important to note that termination of the franchise may be an option available to the secretary of state and is not an absolute duty should GTR be found to have breached their targets."
The NAO update on the Southern scrutiny was added to the Thameslink investigation on its website in January, saying:
Since 2015, train services on the Thameslink Southern Great Northern (TSGN) franchise have been subject to significant disruption, particularly on the Southern services.
Alongside our work on the Thameslink programme, we also plan to report on the Department’s management of the TSGN franchise.
The results of the findings are expected by July.
GTR has submitted force majeure claims, saying high rates of sickness and industrial action have been factors outside of its control, which the DfT is reviewing, but the Transport Select Committee has criticised the lag from the DfT on sharing its findings.
Read more: Pressure is building for a Southern Rail intervention
Chair Louise Ellman has written several times to rail minister Paul Maynard on the matter and asked for the assessment on its first three claims "no later than early November".
The DfT has since said it will not “provide a running commentary” on when its investigation of the force majeure claims will close.
GTR is currently entrenched in more talks with train drivers’ union Aslef. The union suspended strikes it had planned for last month and its overtime ban while it seeks to hammer out a resolution to the long-running dispute over the role of the guards.