Friday 15 June 2018 4:07 pm

Govia Thameslink Railway chief executive Charles Horton resigns after ‘huge frustration’ caused by train timetable troubles

The boss of Southern rail parent company Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) Charles Horton is stepping down, it was announced today.

Horton said:

I recognise that passengers have been hugely frustrated at the significant disruption caused by the introduction of new timetables.

It is the right time to hand leadership of GTR to a new pair of hands. I am immensely proud of my team and I would like to thank my 7,000 colleagues at GTR for all their hard work over the past four years.

Govia, a joint venture between the Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, has been in the spotlight previously for the months of strike trouble on its Southern rail services, and more recently for the problems passengers have suffered after a timetable shake-up.

Horton's resignation comes days before he is due to go before the Transport Select Committee for a grilling by MPs over the rail timetable changes.

Along with GTR's chief operating officer Nick Brown and Northern's managing director and performance and planning director, Horton will give be questioned on Monday 18 June.

Britain's biggest rail timetable shake-up in decades came into force at the end of May, but passengers faced a lot more than the teething troubles that were expected – particularly on Northern and GTR. Sudden cancellations and numerous delays has led to criticism from MPs and passenger groups alike.

GTR's network includes Southern rail, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express.

Go-Ahead said Horton will remain in his post for a short period to oversee the development of a temporary timetable to tackle the recent disruption to services, with a successor announced in due course.

David Brown, group chief executive of Go-Ahead, said: “I would like to thank Charles for his hard work with Govia for the past 15 years. Under often challenging conditions, he has built a team to deliver the largest railway change programme for decades, on a franchise that is not only the UK's biggest, but which has also has seen the highest passenger growth.

“We are committed to working with the Department for Transport and Network Rail to address recent problems and to deliver a reliable, punctual service for passengers.”

Labour's London Assembly spokesperson for transport Florence Eshalomi said Horton's resignation was "little more than symbolic" and urged the new CEO to "immediately get to grips with improving the franchise's service across the board and putting an end to the continual delays and cancellations".

Anthony Smith, chief executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Thameslink and Great Northern passengers main priority is a return to a stable timetable and a reliable railway. However, passengers will probably welcome a fresh start and this recognition of the problems inflicted on them since the May timetable changes.”

Transport secretary Chris Grayling has said compensation will be given to customers with an inquiry looking into what went wrong with the timetable chaos, and how repeat mistakes can be avoided in the future.