New TransPennine Express boss says only half the drivers have the training they need

Chris Jackson, who has been appointed as interim managing director of TransPennine Trains, said only half the drivers currently have the training they need to operate all the trains in the fleet.

The company was set up to run rail services by the Government’s operator of last resort after they were nationalised last month.

TransPennine Express, which was owned by First Group, lost the contract to run services after it forced passengers to endure months of severe disruption by cancelling thousands of trains at short notice.

Mr Jackson accepted that passengers are “suffering across the North” and he wants to cut the number of cancellations, improve relations with trade unions which have staged a series of disruptive strikes and support the delivery of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.

But during a Transport for the North meeting in Leeds, he also said there are issues with driver training that need to be addressed before services can improve.

“The business has become far too complicated,” he said. “It's a relatively small business, but it has four different types of train. That has generated a massive training burden, with 5,000 outstanding training days.

“We need to significantly reduce that to improve reliability. At the nub of the issue, just 50 per cent of drivers are competent to drive all types of train and to drive over all the routes within their roster.”

Mr Jackson, a former director at state-run Northern Trains, also said TransPennine Trains needs drivers to work overtime again, so they can help train new recruits, but also cover for absent colleagues.

“In the short term, a rest-day working agreement would certainly help to address that training backlog, but it is not something that we would ever intend to rely on in the long term,” he said.

TransPennine Express had blamed several issues for the disruption, but said there would have been an immediate improvement if the train drivers agreed to work overtime again.

However, Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, blamed the operator’s “inept management” for the issues and said the operator had failed to recruit and retain enough drivers.

The union accepted a new rest-day working agreement in April – allowing TPE drivers to work overtime for the first time since December 2021.

But hours after accepting the deal, Aslef imposed another overtime ban, claiming members had backed industrial action due to a dispute over working conditions.

Last week, drivers staged two separate strikes, claiming they have not had a pay rise in four years. It prevented TransPennine Trains and 14 other operators from running any services on Wednesday and Saturday.

Aslef also said drivers will not have new contracts, which would make Sundays part of a standard working week, “forced upon them with no compensation”.

TransPennine Trains is currently offering drivers a starting salary of £58,000.