LONDON (Reuters) - The British government said it would provide 20 million pounds ($26 million) to help improve services on the privately run Southern rail network, after passengers suffered months of strikes, cancellations and delays.
The funding would be used to increase the number of teams used to fix problems on the line, accelerate the replacement of old track and ensure more staff at busy stations, the Department for Transport (DfT) said on Thursday.
Southern, which connects London to Brighton and Gatwick Airport, is run by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), Britain's largest train operator, which is a joint venture owned by London-listed Go-Ahead (L:GOG) and France's Keolis.
In August, strikes on Southern added to months of delays and cancellations for commuters, following the company's move in July to axe about 15 percent of weekly services to try to make its timetable more reliable.
The DfT said that GTR must work together with Network Rail, which owns the track infrastructure, to provide a better service for passengers and named rail veteran Chris Gibb to lead a plan to improve services with a report due later this year.
Britain privatised its rail services in the 1990s but the leader of the opposition Labour party Jeremy Corbyn has championed renationalisation of the railways.
Joining calls from Corbyn and disgruntled Southern passengers for the network to be nationalised, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said in July that the state-owned Transport for London should take over running the service.
Go-Ahead reports annual results on Friday.