TransPennine Express ordered to improve after months of misery for passengers

Passengers have been forced to endure severe disruption in recent months as the operator, which is owned by FirstGroup, has cancelled thousands of services at short-notice.

The latest figures also show it had one of the worst punctuality records in the country between July and September last year, as just over half (55.8 per cent) its trains ran on time.

TransPennine Express (TPE) has been struggling with a driver shortage, as they stopped volunteering to work on rest days and the training programme for new recruits was disrupted by the pandemic, as well as industrial action and high levels of staff sickness.

TPE’s contract to run services expires in May and the Government will have to decide whether to renew it or appoint its Operator of Last Resort (OLR) to take over.

Speaking to Parliament’s Transport Committee, Mr Merriman said: “If a train operator is not performing and it appears clear they can’t perform and turn it around, then that contract will come to an end and we wouldn’t hesitate to put it into the OLR.

“The TPE contract comes to an end in May, so I am already looking at what needs to be done.”

The Government must also decide if Avanti West Coast’s contract should be renewed in April and Mr Merriman said services have “much improved” since the operator recruited 100 new drivers, ended its reliance on rest-day working and introduced a new timetable in December.

The Tory Minister said that appointing the state-owned operator is not a silver bullet, as only a small number of senior personnel change and the operator still has to deal with issues like driver shortages and industrial action.

“If it can be demonstrated that a train operator is turning matters around, then we want to support that because then we can encourage all operators to turn matters around,” he said. “If the train operator just cannot turn matters around then the OLR is there and will be used.”

The rail minister also suggested that TPE and Northern, which has been run by the OLR since 2020, could be “amalgamated”.

“There is an opportunity, if one looks at TPE and Northern, for perhaps a different model that combines both,” he said.

In a statement, TPE apologised to passengers and said staff are working “flat-out to deliver higher levels of service delivery and to tackle the issues that are being experienced”.

At the hearing, Mr Merriman also told MPs he is confident the Government can reach a new deal with the RMT, to end a long-running dispute and a series of disruptive strikes, but also push through a series of “changes to working practices” to ensure staff are available to run reliable services throughout the week.

The Government announced last year it was planning to set up a new state-owned body, called Great British Railways, by 2024 to take charge of the railways in England, set timetables and prices and sell tickets.

Industry experts are concerned plans for GBR have been shelved, but Transport Secretary Mark Harper is due to provide an update when he delivers a speech on February 7.

Birmingham, Crewe, Doncaster, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and York, were shortlisted as finalists in the competition to become the host the GBR headquarters last year and a public vote was held in the summer.

But the Department of Transport has not revealed when the winner will be announced.