Stories have been circulating for a few days that the devolution of Metro South Eastern rail services to Transport for London, and the associated benefits for longer-distance commuters may be torpedoed by the Department for Transport in coming weeks.

Today’s announcement by the Secretary of State is silent on this. Instead it’s about some reorganisation within the rail industry, So it doesn’t address the issues of better services for customers, more focus on supporting economic growth in the region, stronger management of train operators, and greater local accountability that his own Department promised in January.

It’s time for members and others to make their voice heard again. Otherwise the opportunity will be lost for a further cycle and we’ll be stuck with another franchise on the current, failing, model.