Passengers have been let down, says Transport Secretary

FOR FAR too long, millions of rail passengers across the North of England have been badly let down, writes Grant Shapps.

Cancellations, delays, overcrowding and unreliability mean passengers simply lost trust in Northern.

This paper and others called for the Government to take action, and for the rail crisis to end.

From March 1, Northern started a new beginning.

The Government operator took over running services on the network and is providing people across the North with a greater say over their regional railways. This paper has written that this is not a cause for celebration, but just another milestone in a tortuous journey for passengers.

It is our job as government to make sure that we use this milestone to ensure your journey starts getting better, from day one.

Those commuting today will hopefully begin to notice the small immediate improvements we’ve made where we can – from deep cleaning all trains across the network and improving on-board cleanliness, to continuing to roll out new trains. We’re also finishing off a programme of extending platforms at stations across the network, allowing for longer trains with more carriages and seats, and we’re targeting overcrowding by trialing technology to identify and combat pinch points.

This is a new beginning, but it is just the beginning, and I want to be clear that there will be no magic cure for Northern.

Transformation is a process not an overnight event, and some changes will inevitably take more time.

So I have asked leadership of the operator to prepare a comprehensive plan during its first 100 days to ensure they are focused on delivering for passengers.

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