Chaos rolling on

THE chaos at rail firm Northern shows no sign of easing, with dozens more trains cancelled on Tuesday morning.

Commuters have been complaining about the poor service offered by the franchise in Greater Manchester for several months.

However, things became even worse when a new timetable came into operation last Monday.

Hundreds of services have been cancelled and others delayed.

Angry passengers have reported short journeys taking hours.

And after the Bank Holiday weekend, when the company was affected by strike action as members of the RMT union walked out on Saturday over the role of guards, people have returned to work to more disruption. By Tuesday lunchtime, Northern announced 51 cancelled services with at least 25 of these in Greater Manchester.

There are also 20 services which will have fewer carriages than normal, and 53 which have been delayed or which are no longer stopping at stations as planned.

Nearly all of the cancellations and delays are listed on Northern’s website as being due to a shortage of train drivers or train crew.

The ‘staffing crisis’ at the firm is just one of the areas local politicians, including the region’s metro mayor Andy Burnham, have demanded must be urgently addressed. The Transport Secretary Chris Grayling apologised to passengers last week as the firm were forced to agree to a ‘recovery plan.’ However Mr Burnham has rejected government claims the current issues are merely ‘teething problems’ related to the new timetable and has called for franchise owner Arriva Rail North to face being stripped of their right to operate if they don’t improve their ‘substandard’ service If you are a ticket holder for Northern service and are delayed by more than half an hour you are eligible for compensation which you can apply for here northernrailway. co.uk/delayrepay