SMALLER STATIONS ‘BEING SACRIFICED’ –

Smaller stations ‘sacrificed by firms’

MORE THAN two-thirds of trains serving two of Yorkshire’s busiest railway stations have arrived late or been cancelled in the past six months – making them the worst in the country, new figures have revealed.

Just 29 per cent of services have been on time at both York and Huddersfield since the botched rollout of a new national rail timetable on May 20, according to data from performance tracking website On Time Trains.

The figures – combined with 2,130 cancelled services at York and 1,641 cancellations in Huddersfield – mean the two stations are the two least reliable large stations in the country to catch a train from.

Sheffield has fared little better, with only 37 per cent of services arriving on time and 1,714 cancellations, while in Leeds 43 per cent of services were on time, with 3,498 cancellations.

Many of Yorkshire’s smaller stations are even less reliable. Slaithwaite in the Colne Valley has the worst record in the country, where the number of on-time trains – five per cent – exactly matches the number of cancellations. Almost one-quarter of services have arrived over 10 minutes late. Ravensthorpe, Batley, Dewsbury and Malton also feature in the bottom 10 performing stations from more than 2,600 across the country.

Conservative MP for Pudsey and Defence Minister Stuart Andrew said today: “We are seeing record investment in our railways and new rolling stock with an ambition of more frequent services but it seems that time and again the benefits are being lost by poor management of areas like this.

“We need rail companies and the network to redouble the efforts to sort this out so that hardworking passengers and constituents get the service they expect and deserve.”

Problems have followed the botched rollout of a new national timetable on May 20, which particularly affected Northern services and had a major knock-on effect on other operators.

A report by the Office of Rail and Road in September found “systemic weaknesses in the planning and delivery of major network changes” – with the issues following on from a failure to complete rail electrification work in the North West over Christmas.

Earlier this week, passengers in Slaithwaite and the nearby village of Marsden told The

Yorkshire Post their hourly services were being “sacrificed” by TransPennine Express, with laterunning trains between Leeds and Manchester frequently missing out their stops to make up time.

Similar complaints have been made about services to and from Scarborough. Conservative MP Robert Goodwill, who represents Scarborough and Whitby, asked Transport Secretary Chris Grayling this week when passengers can expect “a return to normality” following a summer of delays. “Because of drivers’ hours, many trains have been terminated at York, leaving passengers waiting an hour for the following service, if it not also delayed,” he told Parliament.

Mr Grayling said additional Scarborough services would be introduced “in the coming months”, while it is hoped an independent review will lead to improvements.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We again express our sincerest apologies for letting passengers down with May’s timetable troubles. A whole system approach to timetable planning must be the way ahead and we have already started on that path, with the new winter timetable due in December that will see some modest improvements.

“This approach will continue as we look to ensure that passengers see the benefit of record investment and new services, welcoming them with confidence rather than concern.”

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “We want performance to improve which is why this Government is investing more than ever in the railway over the next five years, including £3bn to upgrade the railway between Manchester, Leeds and York.

“Today there are more services running on both Northern and TransPennine Express than earlier this year.”

TransPennine and Northern separately said they are committed to improving services.

These figures are not good enough. We need to sort this out.

Stuart Andrew, Conservative MP for Pudsey