St Albans Civic Society: First Capital Connect 'is affecting people’s lives' (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

St Albans Civic Society: First Capital Connect 'is affecting people’s lives'

12:39pm Friday 29th January 2010 in News

The calls for First Capital Connect to be stripped of its Thameslink route franchise are understandable.

The poor service is affecting people’s lives, their work, health, family and social activities - even the St.Albans’ economy because, exhausted and frustrated by delays, once home, people just don’t want to go out and do things.

An urgent inquiry is needed to identify why things have become so bad – with remedial action taken.

If we do get a new franchise operator, could it be anything more than yet another repainting of the same old trains, signs, seats and lampposts - as if that suddenly made everything better again, while, apart from a new face at the top, nearly everyone else stays the same as before.

The latest move by FCC in appointing a new Route Managing Director, the third in a year, doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that they’ve got the message. He is reported as coming from “an engineering and new trains” background within the company.

This smacks of an appointment with more of an eye on the future Thameslink Programme rather than someone with the experience and skills to start knocking some heads together so as to actually deliver on train operations and passenger (customer) service issues. After all, the present incumbents don’t seem to be doing these very well.

The Industrial and Human Relations management, especially in respect of Train Crew (Drivers), could do with a review too.

BR had its faults, but is now long gone. Other privatised routes have achieved some success – look at nearby Chiltern Trains.

So the jury’s now out on this latest Managing Director. Urgent action is needed. People are tired of the rueful rhetoric presently coming from FCC.

This isn’t the way to run a railway. Just how many more chances do they expect to get? It’s time to blow the whistle – and how!

Eric Roberts To find out more about St Albans Civic Society, phone 01727 891734