TransPennine Express cancellations: Mayor Tracy Brabin attacks train company for slew of cancellations

The train operator said cancellations impacting its entire network, which includes swathes of Yorkshire, had been caused by a track defect at Huyton in Merseyside.

But it also admitted that staff sickness and employees being on training had had an impact.

A spokesperson said: “A track defect at Huyton is continues to cause disruption to our services between Liverpool and Manchester, with the impact also being felt further afield across our network – as far as Newcastle and Glasgow.

“Coupled with this, sustained high levels of sickness and a training backlog as a direct result of Covid continue to affect our services and these factors have seen a number of on-the-day or ‘evening before’ cancellations being made.

“In normal circumstances, we have enough people to fully operate our scheduled timetable, however the combination of all these factors has put unprecedented pressure on our ability to operate a consistent service.”

The company apologised for the issues and urged people to check before travelling. But Tracy Brabin said the cancellations reflected “just another day in the North”.

She said: “What we’re seeing today is typical of the daily struggles faced by commuters in the North of England.

"I’ve just learnt that my own train this evening has been cancelled again.

"We’re fed up of being badly let down by a failing rail network that isn’t meeting our needs. This is especially unacceptable when our economy needs all the support it can get.”

She shared a photograph of a list of cancelled services on her social media, writing the caption “How do we build our economy when train companies are doing this?”

Her fellow Labour mayor, Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham, tweeted his anger, saying “Appreciate there’s a lot going on but the meltdown in train services across the North of England needs more attention.”

Humberside-based BBC journalist Andy Comfort said he had never known so many train cancellations by the company on a non-strike day.

The train company was also beleaguered yesterday with its customer phone lines going down.