Khan calls for Southern Rail to be taken from Go-Ahead's Govia

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called for the Southern Rail franchise to be withdrawn from train company Go-Ahead Group after months of delays and cancellations.

After passengers staged a protest on Monday at Victoria station labelling the service “Southern Fail”, Khan sympathised with the commuters and urged the Department for Transport to temporarily take over the franchise from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which is 65%-owned by FTSE 250 company Go-Ahead.

“Passengers are paying thousands of pounds for a service that, rather than being ‘turn up and go’, has become 'turn up and hope'," Khan said. "Their frustration at such a disgraceful level of service is obvious and it is justified.”

Southern Rail has been operated by Govia since 2001, but critics have noted a decline in the service since it became part of GTR last year. In an attempt to make services more “resilient”, GTR on Monday introduced a reduced timetable that cut 341 trains a day for a month.

According to rail minister Claire Perry, GTR will not be able to bid for more franchises unless its performance improves.

Khan however said this is not enough and has urged the government to do more.

“Ministers need to put in place a new and faster timetable for handing over inner suburban rail services to Transport for London, so that we can provide passengers with the improved services, stations and fares they deserve,” said Khan

The company has pointed the blame for its poor service towards industrial action taken by members of the RMT union and the union in turn have blamed poor management.

Whatever the reason, Khan said: “This utter mess is now an embarrassment to our city; it is an insult to hard-working Londoners who pay their fares and it must be fixed.”