Metro mayors have called on the new Government to strip rail operator Northern of its franchise ‘as a first step’ after a new timetable on the rail network saw delays and cancellations again.
The BBC reported that by 10am on Monday (16 December) Northern had cancelled 19 trains, while 31 were delayed, and the Transpennine Express had cancelled 29 services on Monday Morning.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said: ‘If the Government is serious about supporting the North, then it needs to show it by acting this week to sort out our failing rail services.
‘As a first step, it should strip Northern of its franchise. That would send a clear signal to all rail operators – notably Transpennine Express – that we will not accept a second-class rail service for people in the North. If Transpennine Express fails to respond to that message, they should be next.’
Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotherham also described Northern as running a ‘second class service’.
On Tuesday morning, Mr Rotherham published an open letter to transport secretary Grant Shapps [at the time of writing], calling on him to strip Northern of the franchise.
However, Northern claimed that its services were ‘performing well’ following the introduction of the new timetable, with very few passengers seeing any changes.
Northern says its new trains 'will set new standards for customers'
A spokesperson said: ‘Services that have changed are generally performing well. We run over 2,800 services per day and only a handful have thus far been cancelled.
‘The small number of delays and cancellations are due to operational issues including driver sickness, signalling failure and train faults.’
The firm also raised the issue of the notorious Pacer trains, which it has been slow to remove from service despite numerous promises.
The spokesperson said: ‘As of this morning, we now have over half (52) of our brand new trains in service – and over half (52) of our Pacer trains have now been retired.’
The BBC reported that passengers using Great Western Railway services from London to the West Country also suffered cancellations and delays between Reading and London Paddington, due to a fault with the signalling system at Maidenhead.
Passengers on South Western Railway (SWR) continue to be hit by an ongoing strike by the RMT union over the role of guards, which is set to last across across December.
SWR services between Epsom and Waterloo were disrupted on Monday by a landslip, which is expected to cause disruption for the rest of the week.
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