Andrew Dismore

Dear Editor,

Calls for Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) services to be devolved to TfL have never been stronger, or more urgent. Commuters in Barnet and Camden are quite rightly at the end of their tether with the continued delays and cancellations to train services at the hands of Govia and their catastrophic handling of recent timetable changes.

Last week, it has been revealed that the latest iteration of the new GTR timetable has led to the cancellation of 200 trains per day. With this schedule set to stay in place until December, Londoners have been left with the grim prospect of further disruption to tens of thousands more services.

The new Deputy Mayor for Transport, Heidi Alexander, has wasted no time in demanding that the operator is stripped of its licence to make way for TfL to take the reins.

The ball is now in the Government’s court. It must listen properly to the thousands of beleaguered commuters left at the mercy of the GTR franchise’s routine incompetence, and get the ball-rolling for devolution.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Dismore AM