Northern Trains to be praised for performance but network investment much needed
The turnaround of Northern Trains is to be applauded. There has been plenty of criticism levelled at the operator in the past, a lot of it justified.
The operator’s recently-published annual results show a 10 per cent increase in passenger revenue to £437m. While that may be a good indicator for Northern Trains it is another metric which speaks more to rail passengers.
There has been a substantial reduction in cancellations from eight per cent to 3.5 per cent. This comes two years after Andy Burnham, now Prime Minister, then Mayor of Greater Manchester, accused the operator of running a “part-time railway “.
If anything this shows that rail services can be improved in the North, translating to increased passenger use. That is not to suggest that everything is plain sailing. An ongoing dispute with the RMT train union about working hours has resulted in reduced Sunday services. Yet the management at Northern Trains deserves credit for its back to basics approach.
In order to win back the trust of passengers in the North, it will require more than just one operator delivering an improved performance. It is evident that Yorkshire’s railway network has been left behind. Improvements are in the pipeline such as the TransPennine Route Upgrades but the region needs cross-party political consensus on wider investment.
The demand for rail travel is clearly there and there is enough evidence to support the economic case for projects such as Northern Powerhouse Rail.
Making Yorkshire’s population more mobile unlocks opportunity for not only the people living here but for the businesses based here.