Fate of Hull Trains is Powerhouse test – The Yorkshire Post says

The future of Hull Trains remains in doubt.The future of Hull Trains remains in doubt.
The future of Hull Trains remains in doubt. | Copyright © 2016 Neil Holmes Photography
EVEN though it was the Tory party which privatised the railways in the 1990s, it did make practical and economic sense for the Department for Transport to take back control of rail franchises at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It gave Transport Secretary Grant Shapps the power to maintain those services which key workers, like NHS staff, use each day as well as the scope to oversee other changes as the railways come to terms with these new realities.

However the one anomaly is so-called ‘open access operators’ like Hull Trains and Grand Central which also operates a number of services from parts of North and West Yorkshire to London.

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As they’re not full franchises, they’re totally dependent on ticket sales to pay for their fleet. Yet, with services suspended and staff on furlough, the outlook is uncertain at best – will such services remain viable if passenger numbers have to be cut to take account of social distancing?

Transport Secretary grant Shapps is also the Northern Powerhouse Minister.Transport Secretary grant Shapps is also the Northern Powerhouse Minister.
Transport Secretary grant Shapps is also the Northern Powerhouse Minister.

Yet, while the DfT stresses that it remains in contact with both firms, it would be helpful if Mr Shapps could provide the assurances that these operators, and MPs from all parties, have been requesting with growing urgency in recent days.

Not only does Grand Central provide Bradford, Brighouse, Mirfield, Pontefract, Thirsk and Northallerton with direct services to London, but Hull Trains has been key to the revival of East Yorkshire. Its importance to Hull cannot be under-estimated when it comes to attracting inward investment to the port city. Now Ministers need to act and show that they, too, recognise the integral value of Hull to the wider Northern Powerhouse.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

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