Southern Rail: Strikes, Stress and a Shit Show Service

 Southern used to mean good things – Southern Fried Chicken, Southern Comfort and of course, southern accents. No more however, as there’s one big bad bastard on the block tainting the word for good: Southern Rail.

Those of us that deal with Southern on a regular basis know what’s happening isn’t out of character. We’re frankly used to the shit they pull. Indefinitely delayed, on time one second and cancelled the next, diverted without warning and simply late trains are just the fabric of our every day. We honestly didn’t think much could surprise us, but Southern simply have just too many tricks up their sleeves.

All in the click of a button

So what is this whole thing about? Well, seemingly it’s all about closing train doors. Southern want the driver to be responsible, leaving conductors free to attend passengers. The staff want the job to stay as it is, firmly in the conductors hands. They argue that it puts passengers at risk while Southern says it should save time. Really, its just another in a long list of disputes between the RMT Union and train operators and it’s difficult to side with either. Plenty of other companies have drivers closing doors without problem, but I simply refuse to support Southern when they refuse to support me.

When facing major problems and angry commuters back in July, Southern decided to fix things in a spectacular way. Trains not running on time? We’ll cancel 341 of them. No one can complain about a late train if it doesn’t exist anymore. Southern typically pointed the finger at their staff, citing unprecedented sickness in the middle of summer. Some suggest this was the first unofficial strike action but staff stated they were simply suffering from stress.

Now we know Londoners like to rant and rave about their transport services, but Southern took seventeen steps too far. People started to lose jobs, time with families, appointments, meetings and receiving continual late warnings. We hoped that when the timetable was reinstated, that might be the end of it, but of course the worst was yet to come.

Striking a balance

If it was simply the odd strike action, it would be easier to forgive. After all, we’ve all been there when the powers that be make changes without fully understanding what you do each day. It’s even harder to sympathise when you realise said company rake in a reported £100m profit, yet workers state they’re severely understaffed. On top of this, rail staff deal with abuse, drunks, brawls, violence, ungodly hours – you can understand a walk-out.

However, it’s been half a year of hell (arguably much longer) where nothing goes except our money. Fares are ever-increasing for this shit show of a service. And as ‘noble’ as Southern boss David Brown turning down his sickening six figure bonus is, it doesn’t even go a fraction of the way to compensating us. The Rail Value for Money study shows we pay 30% more than equivalent European counterparts: and that’s when the service is actually running. 

So what will be done? We keep hearing of calls for Southern to be stripped of its licence but is that really being considered? The government seems loathe to do anything. They’re acting like a temp who knows Christmas is just round the corner and the office party starts in half an hour. Quotations and soundbites or requisite outrage are all well and good, but they’re just lip service. When push comes to shove, it’s always us crammed and cramped in an unmoving carriage.

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