Network Rail and First Capital Connect responded to District Councillors’ questions following major disruption to the Thameslink service in early November. Martin Frobisher, Route Managing Director from Network Rail and Jerome Pacatte, Area Business Manager from First Capital Connect were speaking at St Albans City & District Council’s Full Council meeting on Wednesday 23 November.
The Council had invited the two companies to answer questions about how they are proposing to deal with the issues highlighted by the recent disruptions and how they intend to minimise any further disruption to commuters. In particular, unreliability and consequent diminishing confidence in service and a lack of communication from FCC were high on the councillors’ list of concerns.
The companies’ representatives apologised for the delays, described what had led to the latest disruptions and what they were doing to improve the service. They also invited councillors to see for themselves various upgrades that they said had been put in place as part of a major improvement programme. A webcast of the Council meeting is available online. Both FCC and Network rail are also due to attend the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny (Public Services) Committee on 26 January 2012. This meeting is open to the public to observe and can be also be viewed via webcast, both live and after the event.
Councillor Julian Daly, Executive Leader of the Council said: “I am glad that FCC and Network Rail both agreed to come and hear our concerns. It is a credit to both organisations that they were willing to engage with us in this way. Sadly this is not the first time we have felt the need to invite them to account for the poor service experienced by local commuters. As a regular commuter myself, I know the impact of long delays and the negative effect they can have on business and the lives of local people.”
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