Burnham: DfT and train operators have ‘let down’ Manchester

Greater Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham has accused the rail industry of “saving face before putting on services for the public”.

Speaking at the launch of train drivers’ union ASLEF’s Invest in Rail campaign, Burnham said the reduced timetable introduced on Northern routes was a “self-serving act” and accused train operating company and Department for Transport bosses of “letting down” Manchester.

He also said the Ordsall Chord, which links Manchester’s Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations with Victoria, “stands today as a monument to railway planning failure”.

The line was opened in 2017 but has had little effect in relieving congestion - because no extra capacity has been built at the stations.

Burnham added: “They’ve never come up with a solution to the bottleneck that is Manchester city centre. They didn’t follow through. They didn’t provide the investment for the infrastructure that could support a timetable that people deserve. That’s why the industry has failed.”

Northern has said its new timetable is designed to prioritise “the routes with the highest customer demand, and which support the region’s economic growth”. The operator hopes that by timetabling fewer services, it can increase reliability on those that remain.

But Burnham told the audience of train drivers: “They’re running it in their own interests, it seems to me. ‘Oh, we’ll protect ourselves and our reputation.’ They’re saving face before putting on services for the public. And there’s no end in sight to this reduced timetable.”

At the event, at Manchester’s People’s History Museum on May 8, ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan broadened his calls for rail investment to include other forms of public transport.

“If you start your journey on public transport, you’re likely to finish it on public transport. And by investing in rail, you invest in other kinds of things that feed the needs of our communities,” he said.

Whelan also described last November’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow as “the longest two weeks of my life”.

He continued: “I waited for the buffoon in Westminster to make some announcement. There was no announcement about decarbonisation, there was no announcement about electrification, there was nothing on the previous promises of HS3 for the North.

“What we saw afterwards in their PR was the watered-down versions of all the things that communities here in the North West should have had for years.”