Text of an email sent by Sir Nicholas to the Route Managing Director for the South East Route at Network Rail in the light of the appalling service on Monday night at London Bridge:
"You will understand I am sure the absolute outrage, and I mean it, of my constituents who have the misfortune to be using London Bridge particularly to and from East Grinstead.
In my 32 years as a Member of Parliament I have never on any issue had such a volume of complaints about such appalling service.
People of course understand the scale of investment at London Bridge and the benefits that will flow from it; what they cannot understand is why in the meantime the line is so seriously and permanently unreliable.
I would like an explanation please that I can send on to my constituents who have emailed me today about what happened at London Bridge last night and about why this very expensive signalling should continue to fail. It is my considered belief that when Network Rail embarked on this project literally 0% consideration was given to passengers.
However, you have got to put this right.
I want you to truly understand how furious I am on behalf of my constituents about this pathetic and hopeless state of affairs.
I would appreciate an urgent reply.
Also I would be grateful if you could let me know what works will be taking place at London Bridge to make the line more reliable over Easter.
Yours sincerely,
Nicholas Soames"
Sir Nicholas has a record of campaigning for improvements in the rail services, having called for compensation for passengers who have been severely inconvenienced by Network Rail and Southern Railway’s failures at London Bridge. In January, Sir Nicholas met with Rail Minister Claire Perry, and the senior Management of Southern and Thameslink (GTR), Network Rail and the Office of the Rail Regulator.After this meeting Sir Nicholas commented that "We will all be watching this situation very carefully and the Minister left them in no doubt of her determination to hold them to account for dramatic improvements. Various separate points were raised about Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and East Grinstead etc.”