Anne Main and Peter Lilley, MPs for St Albans and Hitchin & Harpenden, have written to the rail minister calling for an urgent meeting regarding the poor service suffered by local commuters.

Mrs Main hit out, ‘Enough is enough.  Despite the reassurances and the promised improvements, commuters continue to write to me with their problems trying to get to and from work.  The commuter shambles must be halted.’

In their letter the MPs said ‘Numerous long suffering travellers have complained to us about their inability to travel to work or appointments in a timely manner. This service disruption has been ongoing for an unacceptable period of time. Whilst we appreciate that there are ongoing Network Rail works that do impact on the line, this is no excuse for the rail services not to provide a reliable timetable or try to deliver improvements to their service.’

Last week, the St Albans MP wrote to the transport secretary, complaining that Network Rail had not provided any evidence of how a railfreight terminal would function alongside passenger services.  Mrs Main said that following on from last week’s letter to the department of transport, it was important to continue to lobby ministers on the day-to-day running of the Midland Mainline.

‘Not only are our constituents suffering a poor service, they also receive far less generous compensation than Southern Rail passengers when these incidents occur, which cannot be acceptable. Our constituents simply wish to receive the level of service that is only reasonable for them to expect, particularly as they have to pay some of the highest rail fares in the country. 

‘We hope it is possible to have this meeting as a matter of urgency to discuss what can be done to improve this dreadful service. We would welcome representatives from Govia to be present at the meeting as this disruption to train services cannot continue.’