The spring rail timetable fiasco cost the economy £38m from failures on Northern Rail's services alone, according to a new report by a group led by former chancellor George Osborne.
According to the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, £38m was lost to the Northern Powerhouse economy on Northern Rail trains alone, totalling up to £1.3m a day at the height of the crisis.
Over the entire period, using Northern Rail figures, 945,180 hours were lost to delays, an average of 22,504 per day.
The full figure is likely to much higher, the Devolving our Railways report concludes. On some Trans- Pennine Express services half of all trains were very late or cancelled, and 'even now more than 20% of services on the North Trans Pennine route were more than 30 minutes late or cancelled'.
The report recommends the Government devolve 'far more power and authority to Transport for the North (TfN), allowing them to hold Network Rail and the train operators to account and act decisively and quickly to prevent disruption'.
It also calls for TfN take control of the £3bn Trans Pennine Route Upgrade and is responsible for all Northern transport spending.
Mr Osborne said: 'This report sets out a clear message to government – the Northern Powerhouse is crying out for more devolution. This is the very role we envisaged Transport for the North doing when we set them up; Northern leaders will support them in making sure the people of the Norther Powerhouse get the modern, connected network they deserve.'
Back up but not fully running
Northern Rail has only just resumed 75% of the trains cancelled following the shake-up today. The remaining 25% of its cancelled trains do not restart until September
Services in Manchester and Merseyside have been reinstated with 23 services back up and running. In total 168 services a day were cancelled last month.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham wants the prime minister to personally intervene calling the situation a 'lottery'.
David Brown, managing director at Northern, said the cancellations since 4 June were an attempt to alleviate the 'significant disruption' caused by the national time table changes on 4 May.
'Whilst we are ready to reintroduce all 168 daily services, given the need to drive further improvements across Manchester, we have agreed to a more gradual reintroduction of our services.
'A phased introduction is the right approach to ensure a more stable and reliable service for customers.'
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