Hertford and Stortford MP Julie Marson fails to secure rail replacement buses after late intervention for passengers affected by January bridge works announced in November
MP Julie Marson's last-minute attempt to secure rail replacement buses for some of her Hertford and Stortford constituents failed.
The Conservative intervened on behalf of Hertford East passengers just two days before the six-day Nazeing New Road bridge works began last Friday (Jan 13).
Network Rail had publicised the disruption between London and Cambridge on its website in November and Greater Anglia issued warnings in December, making it clear it was focusing rail replacement resources on the West Anglia main line – which Mrs Marson sometimes uses to commute between her Sawbridgeworth flat and Westminster – and Stansted Express services, not the Hertford East branch line.
The Tory MP told train bosses: "I appreciate these works are unavoidable... Following on from the Christmas period and recent industrial action, you will know that my constituents are keen to return to work and, being a commuter town, these services are vital."
By the time Mrs Marson wrote to Greater Anglia, Hertford town councillor Andrew Porrer had already met with bosses.
The Liberal Democrat told the Indie: "When I met with senior Greater Anglia representatives on Wednesday (January 11), they made it clear that the national driver shortage had made it impossible to find enough bus operators with availability to run a rail replacement service on the Hertford East line.
"Even where bus replacements were operating, these were quite limited. I expressed the view that this disappointing information had not been given enough prominence in their announcements and they have since put out further material on the lack of buses.
"I see our Kent-based MP has now sprung into action and is going to have a meeting with Greater Anglia to 'make sure this doesn't happen again'. As the cause is the national driver shortage made worse by the punishing version of Brexit she helped foist on us, I'm not sure what she is planning to say. Her time would be better spent talking about the driver shortage to her colleagues in Government instead."
Greater Anglia confirmed: "Ensuring that the best possible alternative travel arrangements are in place for customers during engineering work is always a priority for us. On this occasion, regrettably, despite having an extensive pool of 120 bus operators that we call on during times of engineering work, there is simply not enough bus or coach fleet availability to ensure that a rail replacement service could operate on the Hertford East line.
"A number of factors led to this situation, including the need for bus and coach operators to honour existing school contracts and a wider, national shortage of bus and coach drivers.
"While we have managed to source some buses on the dates affected, these need to be deployed strategically in areas with the highest passenger numbers – the West Anglia mainline and on services to and from Stansted Airport."
Southbound mainline trains terminated at Harlow Town, with Bishop's Stortford acting as the rail replacement hub for passengers travelling to Broxbourne and on into London.
The spokesman said Hertford East passengers were able to use Hertford North station, with their usual tickets accepted on Great Northern and London Underground.
Mrs Marson told her Facebook followers that she was to meet with Greater Anglia this week "to make sure this won't happen again".
The disruption for passengers was set to finish on Wednesday (Jan 18).