TransPennine puts passengers through another pathetic spectacle - The Yorkshire Post says

The Northern Research Group holds its conference in Doncaster today. Will these Conservative MPs, voted in on promises of “levelling-up”, be able to impress on their Government how urgent this is?

Chris Jackson, who has been appointed as interim managing director of TransPennine Trains, the company set up to run rail services by the Government’s operator of last resort after they were nationalised, says there are four different types of train to drive and a backlog of 5,000 outstanding training days needed.

Amazingly, he this week revealed, “just 50 per cent of drivers are competent to drive all types of train and to drive over all the routes within their roster”.

Questions must be anwered. Firstly, is this really all down to such rank bad management and leadership?

Have the drivers, owing to demand on their workload, voted with their feet and walked?

Some drivers have refused to work overtime. Is it a case that only by working drivers to unsafe limits that the timetable can be fulfilled?

If this situation is down to driver numbers, why is the company not immediately recruiting more?

Crucially, when will the North of England get a fit-for-purpose railway that is reliable, efficient and fairly priced? High speed trains and east to west connectivity, as it stands, are pipe dreams: passengers right now would be relieved to simply set off.