Passenger perspective

SB Rail HR Manager Tracey Barber told RAIL of her experiences on May 23, travelling with two colleagues on Northern. Her trip was from Manchester Piccadilly to Glasgow Central, with a change at Wigan North Western on the way north, and at Preston southbound.

“The morning was looking to be good, but the day turned into a wash-out,” she said.

“I got to Manchester Piccadilly at 0500, and the Trainline app told me my train was cancelled. I’d gone downstairs to find staff and told them the app was telling us the train was cancelled. But I asked a guard, and he said my train was the 0542 train, which was there waiting.”

She said the rest of her trip north was fine, and she changed at Wigan as planned. She also praised staff on Twitter.

For her return, Barber was supposed to change at Preston onto the 1706 for Manchester Airport.

“We were told it was Platform 2. Then it was Platform 5. I saw the driver for what we were told was our train, and he said he was going to Blackpool. If it wasn’t for him, I’d have been going to Blackpool!”

There was then an announcement that the train would be on Platform 1, and then Platform 6. These announcements all came within 15 minutes, she said.

“I felt sorry for those commuting, and there were people with suitcases. The next train was the 1724, and this ran, but with two carriages carrying two trains’ worth of people.” Barber said that at both Manchester and Preston stations, there was nothing to inform passengers on what was happening.

She also criticised Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham for his remarks on the service problems on May 20, the day that there were several events in the city: “I have respect for Burnham, but that was wrong. I’ve invited him to join me at Manchester Piccadilly during Rail Safety week to see for himself how it works.”