Mayor to tackle minister over railway chaos
THE mayor of Greater Manchester was due to hold crunch talks with the Transport Secretary over the Northern Rail fiasco.
As delays and cancellations continued to escalate, Andy Burnham said he’d tell rail chief Chris Grayling that the government must ensure Northern services improve - or the operator will be stripped of its franchise.
The proposed ultimatum comes amid growing passenger backlash over nightmare commutes.
With the introduction of a new timetable this month, the service, run by Arriva Rail North, has spiralled further.
In response, The Department for Transport (DfT) and Transport for the North (TftN) intervened last week, agreeing a plan with Northern to address ‘performance issues.’
David Brown, managing director of Northern, said the firm’s modernisation plans ‘are not all being delivered in the way we want,’ adding: “We are doing everything we can to minimise cancellations and delays and keep our customers informed.”
Last Tuesday at least 147 trains were cancelled or part-cancelled in and around Greater Manchester, but this Tuesday that figure had almost doubled to at least 281.
On Thursday, Mr Burnham was due to speak with Mr Grayling on a joint call with political leaders from across the north.
Mr Burnham said: “Last week we were told that Northern were implementing an improvement plan. We now know that a week on, rather than getting better, services are actually getting worse.
“When I spoke to Chris Grayling I told him that passengers could not continue to endure the miserable sub-standard service they had been facing for too long.
“The fact that since my call the service has continued to decline is nothing short of a scandal.
“Northern’s performance is getting worse on this Government’s watch and it is not acceptable. Ministers seems oblivious to the scale of this chaos and the impact this is having on people’s jobs and social lives on a daily basis.
“It’s time that the Transport Secretary immediately intervened to improve services for northern passengers.”
Describing Northern’s deterioration as a ‘freefall,’ he added: “If things don’t change very quickly the Transport Secretary should seriously consider showing the operator the door.”
More than 250 trains were cancelled by Northern on Tuesday, with more axed later in the week.
Music fans described chaotic scenes over the weekend as they attempted to travel home to Manchester after the Neighbourhood festival in Warrington.
Passengers said there were dangerously overcrowded platforms at Warrington station, while only one replacement bus service turned up to relieve passengers planning to travel on cancelled rail services.
Reasons given for many cancellations are staff issues and planning issues.
The Department for Transport’s announced this month that the East Coast Main Line would return to Government control.
The route from London King’s Cross to Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh is Britain’s flagship line, but VTEC – 90 per cent owned by Stagecoach – will be the third franchisee to fail on this route.
David Brown, managing director of Northern, said: “Our plans for modernisation are not all being delivered in the way we want. We are doing everything we can to minimise cancellations and delays and keep our customers informed.
“It has been difficult for many of our customers and I am truly sorry for this. There is urgent work to do to fully understand what did and didn’t work on all aspects of planning and delivery of the new timetable.
“We are committed to working with Network Rail to get things back on track as quickly as possible, and to deliver the services our customers expect and deserve.”