Train passengers to protest rail service cuts

Rail passengers will stage a protest on Monday as hundreds of services are removed from the timetable amid staff shortages and threat of industrial action.

Southern Railway has said that the interim decision to cut 341 trains each day for a month was aimed at making services "resilient".

Commuters who have faced weeks of misery and chaos due to delays and cancellations will hold a protest on Monday at Victoria Station in London.

One of the organisers, Alex Prosser-Snelling, said: "We aren't people who protest normally, but everyone's fed up of the service.

"Southern mismanagement is needlessly wrecking passengers' evenings, interfering with childcare, and stressing out the workforce. Southern needs to get a grip - and if they can't or won't, the Government shouldn't let them run a railway."

Passengers who use the services have complained about not being able to get home to see their children, and some have lost their jobs.

The company blames high levels of staff sickness as well as industrial action by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union in a dispute over conductors.

Rail minister Claire Perry said: "There is no threat to safety, jobs or pay from the introduction of new trains and no excuse left for industrial action.

"This is now a big test for the RMT - are you on the side of passengers and employees, or needless disruption?"

Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, said: "It is outrageous for the minister to claim that front line Southern rail staff are not on the side of the passengers.

"The fewer trains you run, the fewer will be delayed and the better your headline performance statistics will look. That is a fix of epic proportions and the public will not be fooled by this chicanery."