TAKE BACK THE TRACKS
‘Only way to end North rail hell’
CONTROL of the North’s chaotic railways must be taken out of the hands of failing rail firms, campaigners insisted yesterday.
The demand came as a hardhitting report condemned the Government for not taking over as commuters suffered a month of delays and cancellations.
The Northern Powerhouse Partnership said the timetables misery cost the local economy £37million in Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside and Yorkshire.
Leaders said they should take back the tracks by being given full franchise control through Rail North.
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham blasted: “Ministers need to stop arguing about Brexit and get up here and sort it out.”
Manchester Airport passengers were among the worst affected, with missed flights resulting in “significant costs”, said the report.
Disruption also cost people their jobs, parents time with their children and many leading businesses dealt with staff shortages and “drastic productivity cuts”. On one day, 40% of services were hit.
The chaos led to Northern council leaders calling for Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to quit.
There was more pain for travellers yesterday as Northern Rail tried to reinstate 75% of routes withdrawn in a new timetable in May. Some 53 trains were fully or partially cancelled by 10am yesterday, according to the Northern Fail app, developed by a disgruntled commuter.
And the Trains.im website reported 18% of TransPennine services were either cancelled or more than half an hour late. On south TransPennine routes, half were late or cancelled – and 40% of trains between Preston and Scotland were late.
Henri Murison, of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, warned of lasting damage to productivity in the North as a result of the disruption.
He said: “It isn’t just a flash in the pan, but will have a longer-term impact on our aim to try and rebalance the country with London.”
The Department for Transport disputed economic costs in the report as a “likely overstatement”.
A spokesman said yesterday: “The disruption has been unacceptable and we must continue to see
significant improvements.”