Rail operator Transpennine Express (TPE) will lose its franchise at the end of the month and be replaced by the state-run operator of last resort (OLR), after what the Government described as months of significant disruption and regular cancellations across the firm’s network.
Transport secretary Mark Harper has announced he will not renew or extend TPE’s contract but will instead bring the company under state control from 28 May.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said that while some improvements have been made over the past few months, ‘it has been decided that to achieve the performance levels passengers deserve, and that the northern economy needs, both the contract and the underlying relationships must be reset’.
It added that the decision to bring the service under the OLR is temporary and that it is the Government’s full intention that it will return to the private sector.
Mr Harper said: In my time as transport secretary, I have been clear that passenger experience must always come first. After months of commuters and northern businesses bearing the brunt of continuous cancellations, I’ve made the decision to bring Transpennine Express into operator of last resort.’
Labour’s shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh MP, said: ‘This broken service has comprehensively failed the north. After months of needless damage, Conservative ministers have finally accepted they can no longer defend the indefensible.’
'But this endless cycle of shambolic private operators failing passengers, shows the Conservatives’ rail system is fundamentally broken.
'The next Labour government will end this sticking plaster politics by bringing our railways back into public ownership as contracts expire, ending the Tories’ failing system, and putting passengers back at the heart of our rail network.'
Anthony Smith, chief executive of the watchdog Transport Focus, said: ‘TransPennine Express passengers have endured an unacceptable service for too long.
‘Whichever organisation runs TransPennine Express rail services, under whatever contractual arrangements, passengers will want to see a much more reliable service.’
The DfT said that under the OLR, services will run as normal with no changes to tickets, timetables or planned services with the department ‘committed to ensuring a seamless transition for passengers’.
