Why commuters are deserting trains in south-east England
Higher fares and unreliable services are encouraging more people to work at home
ALONG with 3m other workers, Eamonn, a civil servant, used to commute into London daily. It was once an easy jaunt of 30 minutes by train from Coulsdon South to Victoria. But after years of strikes and driver shortages at Southern Rail, the operator on that line, getting to work became a lottery—a train running on time felt like a “luxury for special occasions only,” he groans. With Southern cancelling up to 350 trains a day, in one three-week period last autumn he managed to get to the office on only two days. Eventually he moved to Liverpool to escape his awful commute.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Off the rails”
From the January 6th 2018 edition
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