Northern mayors call for urgent action to end 'shambles' on the railways

TransPennine Express (TPE), Northern and Avanti West Coast have cancelled hundreds of services at short notice, despite introducing reduced timetables earlier this year to try and reduce disruption.

The operators have blamed a range of issues, including train driver shortages, high levels of staff sickness and problems with the infrastructure, but also promised improvements.

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin and four other Northern metro mayors – Oliver Coppard, Andy Burnham, Jamie Driscoll and Steve Rotheram – urged the Government to intervene.

“We as Northern Mayors come together to send a clear message that we will not stand for this shambles,” she said. “This is inflicting misery on millions of people.”

In a joint statement, the mayors said they are urging new Transport Secretary Mark Harper to “treat this emergency with the urgency it deserves" and asking him to sign off on a new agreement for rest day working, that will make drivers available to work more shifts.

The Government should also set out clear improvement plans for each operator and put TPE on a six-month probationary period before deciding whether to renew its contract in May, they added.

Ms Brabin added: “If these companies can’t deliver, is it right that they then get another eight years of running this service? I want the Government to put them on notice.’”

Avanti West Coast, owned by FirstGroup, slashed the number of services it runs in August, to try and reduce disruption caused by a driver shortage. It came after the drivers refused to stop volunteering to cover rest days.

TPE, which is owned by the same company, then introduced a reduced timetable between the North West and Scotland to minimise disruption.

Earlier this week, Rail Minister Kevin Foster told MPs Avanti is recruiting almost 100 new drivers and that it plans to increase the number of weekday services from 180 to 264 in December.

But he also said that if the operator fails to address ongoing issues its contract to run services on the West Coast Mainline may not be renewed in April next year.

He admitted that TPE services “need to improve quite substantially” and the Government is working with its parent company to address the ongoing issues.

Northern, which is owned by the Department of Transport, cut services in May to limit disruption, but has said the majority will be restored in December.

The Department of Transport said it has agreed to hand operators more than £16bn of support during the pandemic to keep services running.

A spokesman added: “We are working closely with train operators to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum, long-term solutions are put in place, and passengers can continue to travel while also recruiting and training significant numbers of new drivers at speed.”

A TPE spokesman said: “Prolonged disruption affecting our services has been caused by a range of issues including ongoing high levels of train crew sickness, a persisting training backlog as a direct result of Covid, and infrastructure issues outside of TPE’s control.

"Combined, 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 – and have more drivers now than ever before – however the combination of factors has put unprecedented pressure on our ability to effectively operate our services.

“Our customers want, and deserve, reliable and punctual train services, and we are sorry have not been able to consistently provide that due to the ongoing issues.

"TPE’s team continues to work flat-out to deliver higher levels of service delivery and to tackle the issues that are being experienced by customers.”

An Avanti West Coast spokesman said: “We know we’re not delivering the service our customers rightly expect and we apologise for the enormous frustration and inconvenience caused.

"Our customers and communities we serve deserve a dependable train service, so we’re currently working hard to rebuild our timetable in a resilient and sustainable way.”

He added: “Resolving this situation requires a robust plan that will allow us to gradually increase services without being reliant on train crew overtime, which has fallen dramatically in recent weeks."

Tricia Williams, Northern’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “We recognise that the rail network across the north has not performed as well as we’d have liked over the last few months, and we’re sorry for the disruption and inconvenience caused.

“This is due to several factors, including higher levels of staff sickness, fleet and infrastructure issues and of course, the ongoing industrial relations issues with the trade unions have their own impact.

"We are working hard with our colleagues and other train operators to improve service reliability and we anticipate service improvements in the near future.”