Piccadilly line Night Tube launch to go ahead on Friday despite ongoing disruption as mayor says “lessons must be learned” December 14, 2016 Despite the mayor acknowledging that "Piccadilly line service has not been good enough" with ongoing disruption caused "for thousands of people," the launch of the Night Tube will go ahead as planned. It starts on the line – the fifth to get the all-night treatment – on Friday 16 December and will run all night [...]
Prime Minister brands Southern rail strikes “appalling” and says Corbyn could tell Aslef to call them off December 14, 2016 The Prime Minister has branded the Southern rail train strike "appalling", while suggesting Jeremy Corbyn could have a role to play in resolving the dispute. Southern passengers are facing a second day of strike chaos as talks are underway between the rail firm and drivers' union Aslef at the conciliation service Acas, to try and [...]
RMT says its boss has been banned from today’s Southern rail mediation talks (Southern says he wasn’t invited) December 14, 2016 You know those conciliation talks arranged for today to broker an end to some of the misery suffered by Southern rail passengers? Well, there's already a slight issue, at least according to the Rail, Maritime, Transport (RMT) union. The RMT boss has been barred from taking part in mediation talks that are going on in an effort to [...]
TfL starts its tougher crackdown on illegal cab activity in the capital with the roll-out of new officers December 14, 2016 The first wave of the mayor's new beefed up compliance team to tackle illegal cab activity in the capital has hit the streets. Sadiq Khan unveiled plans to crack down on illegal taxis and minicabs in August and 50 of the 250 new officers have now joined the existing team of 82, which Khan says is [...]
Here’s how one MP thinks strikes like the Southern rail ones can be avoided in the future December 14, 2016 Transport secretary Chris Grayling has been mulling over a range of measures to stop the Southern rail crisis being repeated in the future. And Chris Philp, MP for Croydon South, thinks he just might have the answer. Or at least part of it. The MP has laid out proposals for three major changes to legislation he [...]
Southern rail strike chaos: Acas talks get underway in bid to bring an end to industrial action December 14, 2016 Commuters are hoping talks today will lead to the cancellation of another train drivers' strike on Southern rail services scheduled for Friday. A 48-hour walkout over driver only operated trains continues to cause havoc as it entered the second day of no services. Talks are being held this morning between the rail company and train drivers' union [...]
Southern rail strike misery costs millions as 300,000 commuters left stranded December 14, 2016 The economy is facing a hit of tens of millions of pounds as 300,000 commuters are left stranded this week on the back of three days of walkouts by staff on Southern rail. Southern rail commuter services ground to a halt yesterday on a double whammy of walkouts by guards from the Rail, Maritime and [...]
A ray of hope? The Aslef union says it will hold talks with Southern at Acas tomorrow December 13, 2016 The Aslef union has said it is meeting Southern management at conciliation service Acas tomorrow for talks aimed at ending the rail franchise's strikes. The union's announcement comes after its boss insisted this morning it had not been invited to talks – although transport secretary Chris Grayling said he had written to the union to invite [...]
Transport select committee chair reveals it needed to push the DfT hard to get details of Southern rail contract December 12, 2016 The government deliberately withheld details regarding the Southern rail contract from the scrutiny of a select committee, an MP has claimed, and has been accused of dragging its heels on dealing with the rail firm's operational failings. Transport select committee chair Louise Ellman revealed her frustration at the lack of action by the department for transport (DfT) in the [...]
Southern rail tells customers not to travel tomorrow whether or not it manages to block one of the two sets of strike action December 12, 2016 Southern rail has decided to elevate itself to the same level of the great British institution of bad weather and told London's workers not to worry about rail strikes and simply take the day off. While bosses in the City may have been a little more sympathetic to a day of workers being stranded in their houses as [...]