Arriva and Northern not to blame for franchise woes

The seeds of Northern’s demise were sown well before Grant Shapps made his announcement. The destruction of the North’s rail services was assured when the Department for Transport put out the original franchise on a ‘no growth’ basis.

Since then, all the franchise holders have fought a rearguard catch-up action - ably aided by Network Rail (which has failed to provide the infrastructure to support the planned timetable) and the DfT (which has refused to allow the franchise holders to put together a realistic plan).

Network Rail planned a timetable based on the maximum throughput on the Castlefield Corridor. If everything ran exactly to time it would work, but with multiple conflicting points there was little hope that it would.

Neither DfT nor Network Rail have moved decisively to get extra platforms at Manchester Piccadilly, so narrow platforms, overcrowding and extended station dwell times have contributed to the breakdown of punctuality.

Arriva Northern cannot be blamed for the late delivery of new trains from CAF, but this problem (combined with infrastructure issues) seems to be the grounds for the current government’s withdrawal of the franchise.

Exactly how any other operator can make good all the problems remains to be seen, but for Arriva to be pilloried for something not of their making is shameful.

A tip of the hat to Arriva’s staff who have had to man the front line and take the heat from a fed-up public. Let the blame be put where it rightly belongs… with DfT and Network Rail.

Mike Swinnerton, North Yorks