Southern Rail and Govia Thameslink owner shrugs off rail chaos stating results will beat expectations

Timetable change introduced by Govia Thameslink led to thousands of commuters being stranded earlier this week

Despite recent problems, Go-Ahead Group said the business is performing well (Reuters)

Go-Ahead Group, the owner of Southern Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), shrugged off ongoing rail chaos on Thursday as it announced full-year results should exceed expectations.

The transport group said trading has been good in its rail division over the period between 31 December to 23 May, “largely due to efficiency improvements and helped by the resumption of full Southeastern services through London Bridge station”.

Go-Ahead’s positive report comes just days after thousands of commuters endured disrupted journeys following a botched timetable change implemented by GTR. The new schedule was aimed at boosting capacity, with 400 more trains running each day, creating space for 50,000 extra passengers at peak morning travel times.

However, since the new timetable was introduced, passengers have been facing cancellations and delays.

Commenting on the timetable update, chief executive David Brown said: “The modernisation of the network will lead to new routes, greater connectivity and increased peak frequency through central London with the new technology of automatic train operation.”

Earlier this week, GTR said the disruption was the fault of Network Rail, which had not given the rail company enough time to prepare for the extra trains.

GTR also said its London bus operations have improved in terms of service performance but said revenue and passenger trends “remain mixed” across the regional bus business.

“In a challenging market environment with reduced retail footfall and pressures on local authority budgets, our businesses have performed well overall,” said Mr Brown.

Shares in the group were up 2 per cent in early trading.