Naming and shaming failing rail bosses will drive better services, vows Transport Secretary
FAILING train companies will be forced to improve as new naming-and-shaming boards expose the worst-performing operators, the Transport Secretary has declared.
Heidi Alexander admitted passengers want change now but insisted publicly holding rail bosses to account is the first step toward a better railway.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, she said: “I want to see performance improving tomorrow, because I know that’s what the public want.
“But this is going to be a journey.
“Being honest, being open, being accountable with these performance boards is the right thing to do.”
The new screens, now live at thousands of stations, show real-time punctuality, delays, and cancellations, piling pressure on train operators to get their act together.
But Ms Alexander admitted the short-term reality will be difficult conversations as the public grows impatient with poor services.
She said: “Even if it means I get difficult questions from people like you and the public in the short term, if we get a better performing railway in the medium term, then I’m willing to have those conversations now — because we’ve got to turn this around.”
She insisted her goal is to create a railway “fit for the 21st century”, with South Western Railway, c2c, and Greater Anglia returning to public ownership this year.
She argued bringing train operators into government hands will ultimately allow faster decision-making to tackle delays and cancellations.
“If you’ve got one person in charge of both train operations and sorting out infrastructure problems, you’ll get much better management,” she said.
But frustrated commuters questioned whether the boards would make any real difference.
Speaking to The Sun at Reading Station, local resident Sue Baker told The Sun: “When I heard about it on the news this morning, my first thought was — money would be better spent improving the railways to prevent delays, rather than telling us about them.”
She added: “I would get the train every day, but I don’t. I drive, because you just can’t rely on being able to get in in the morning or home at night.”
Professor of Economics at Oxford University Julian Jamison added: “If it changes things, which hopefully it will, then it’s a good idea.
“I don’t think just on its own it’s great. But if it gets them to compete a little bit or take it seriously, then yes.”
Meanwhile, Andrew Taylor, a pensioner from Reading, insisted there should be “better ways” of holding people to account and branded it “an easy cop out for politicians”.