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Olympia’s infamous ghost bus is back from the dead after a row over train timetables derailed the borough’s new rail service.
In March Southern Trains promised to start running a new weekday service daily between Wandsworth Road and Ealing Broadway, via Kensington Olympia and Shepherds Bush, from May 24.
But now, just three weeks before the new service was set to start, Southern have admitted that they will be unable to start running the trains because Network Rail, who own and manage the track, have refused ‘access rights’ to the line.
Alex Foulds, Southern’s Development Director, said: “We have done everything we can to introduce this service, but without the access rights there is nothing we can do. We have a further meeting planned with Network Rail to see if the issues can be overcome, but I am afraid there is now no chance of a May introduction.”
The row means the ill-fated ‘ghost-bus’, which carries virtually no passengers, is back. Despite only running on a Tuesday, the bus allows the Department for Transport (DfT) to argue that the train line remains open and avoid a public consultation on closing unused sections of track.
Nigel Pallace, H&F Council Director of Environment, says: “We are one of the most densely populated boroughs in Britain with numerous major sporting and leisure venues. Our roads are the most congested in London but Network Rail seem oblivious to the obvious pressures and appear unwilling, at the moment, to allow Southern to put on one extra train a day.”
A spokesman for Network Rail said that the rail franchise, which was awarded to Southern in 2009, compels the train operating company to run a weekly service between Wandsworth Road and Ealing Broadway, not a daily one.
He added: “This is a busy stretch of track and the proposals put forward for a daily service could impact upon the reliability of the timetable on the Great Western line, risking delays to passengers travelling to and from Paddington.
“Therefore the proposal was turned down. We are still in discussions with Southern to find an agreeable solution to meet the requirements of the franchise.”
May 13, 2010
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