The boss of Govia Thameslink Railway has quit over the rail timetable fiasco, after being singled out for blame by the transport secretary, Chris Grayling.
Network Rail executives have also forfeited annual bonuses for their role in the timetable chaos.
Charles Horton, chief executive of GTR, which includes Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express, said he recognised passengers’ huge frustration, after weeks of cancellations and severe delays to services following the introduction of new timetables on 20 May.
Horton, who has overseen a tumultuous few years on Britain’s biggest commuter franchise, including years of strikes on Southern in the row over the future of guards, will remain in post for a short period until a temporary timetable to ease the present disruption is announced in July.
GTR’s owners, the Go-Ahead group, said a successor would be announced in due course.
David Brown, group chief executive of Go-Ahead, said: “I would like to thank Charles for his hard work with Govia for the past 15 years. Under often challenging conditions, he has built a team to deliver the largest railway change programme for decades, on a franchise that is not only the UK’s biggest, but which has also the highest passenger growth.
“We are committed to working with the Department for Transport and Network Rail to address recent problems and to deliver a reliable, punctual service for passengers.”
Horton said: “I recognise that passengers have been hugely frustrated at the significant disruption caused by the introduction of new timetables. It is the right time to hand leadership of GTR to a new pair of hands.
“I am immensely proud of my team and I would like to thank my 7,000 colleagues at GTR for all their hard work over the past four years.”
Meanwhile, the chief executive and chief financial officer of Network Rail have volunteered to forego bonuses of £74,000 and £38,000 respectively this year. Its chairman, Sir Peter Hendy, confirmed that Mark Carne and Jeremy Westlake both wrote to him on Thursday stating they would not accept any bonus for the last year, in which delays in engineering works and confirming timetables were a large contributory factor to rail chaos, particularly for passengers on Northern.
Carne, who is the highest paid public sector official in Britain with a £750,000 annual salary, was made a CBE last week, ahead of his retirement later this year.
Horton is due to appear with Network Rail representatives and others at a Commons transport select committee hearing on Monday to answer questions about GTR’s role in the timetable meltdown, which saw more than 8,000 trains cancelled in the first three weeks since the change on GTR, and 5,000-6,000 on Northern.
Although blame has been shared by Network Rail, and many in the industry have questioned the actions of the Department for Transport, Grayling claimed Horton had assured him the timetable change would work in a meeting shortly before it was implemented.
Emily Yates, of the Association of British Commuters, said Horton’s resignation was overdue, given years of trouble on Southern before the current crisis: “He should have been sacked a long time ago – along with the transport secretary.”
The RMT union welcomed the resignation. The general secretary, Mick Cash said: “For well over two years now RMT members fighting to defend safety and access have been subjected to abuse and hostility under the regime led by Charles Horton.
“The Horton resignation opens the door for this sorry chapter to be brought to a close and that means sweeping GTR away and returning the services to public ownership with safety, access and quality the guiding priorities.”