UNIONS have accused transport secretary Chris Grayling of "fitting up" a long-delayed report into the Southern Rail fiasco.

The report, authored by rail boss Chris Gibb, was completed last year but only published yesterday. It claims that rail unions RMT and Aslef are the "primary cause" of the failure of Southern’s "system integrity."

The operator, which is partly owned by the French state, has been engaged in a long-running battle with staff over the roll-out of driver-only trains. Guards fear the de-skilling of their roles will lead to jobs being axed altogether — while both workers and passenger groups have raised safety concerns.

Mr Gibb says "no single party" has overall responsibility for the proper running of the railway and the Southern network’s infrastructure is in a "poor condition."

But he also accuses the unions of "undermining the system," saying services would be delivered in an "acceptable manner" if strikes and overtime bans had not been called.

Aslef leader Mick Whelan said Mr Gibb was "right" to say no single party was responsible for the network’s performance. "It’s a combination of the Department for Transport and Southern deliberately provoking an industrial dispute," he said.

An appendix to the report shows that Mr Gibb did not have even one meeting with the unions while compiling it.

But he did meet with Southern owners Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Keolis 28 times, and with government agencies on 49 occasions. He also held meetings with watchdog Transport Focus, the Rail Delivery Group, which represents industry bosses — and with an "independent consultant."

RMT general secretary Mick Cash fumed: "It’s a shame Mr Gibb never bothered to talk to the unions and the staff and has allowed himself to be used by the government as a human shield over the Southern Rail fiasco.

He accused the government of trying to "slice and fillet" the report so it could be "spun" as an attack on unions.

"Nobody who uses Southern Rail day in and day out will be fooled by this fit-up by Chris Grayling and the minority Tory government," he added.

"This is a classic case of who pays the piper calls the tune."

GTR chief executive Charles Horton said: "We are grateful to Chris Gibb for his thorough review of the challenges GTR has to face on the Southern network.

"The only way to address the capacity problem is to modernise infrastructure, trains, systems and working practices. We urge our trade unions to play their part by working with us on the modernisation of working practices and have assured them that there will be no job losses."

conradlandin@peoples-press.com