Yorkshire’s awful trains undermine ‘northern hub’ says Labour

Shadow transport secretary Mary Creagh said new franchise contracts for routes through Yorkshire and the North are failing passengers when it comes to rolling stock and services.

The Wakefield MP said the Government had to introduce stricter franchise arrangements for services such as the Transpennine Express and Northern Rail before announcing grand but unfunded plans for a third high speed rail service east to west.

She said: “We have an East West problem in the North, but what we have at the moment under the Northern rail proposals are plans to cut services across the routes. So while the Chancellor talks a good game on his plans for HS3, his own colleagues are talking about cutting direct rail services.

“At the same time we have the issue of Transpennine Express. Commuters have been hit hard by a twenty per cent increase in ticket prices in four years. Next May, nine trains from the overcrowded Transpennine Express routes, that serve the North, will go down to Chiltern Railways.

“We have two of the most overcrowded train services in the country passing through the North and the Government says it can address it through a new time table in May, well the trains to Chiltern disappear in April.”

She added: “We will cap fares, allow a public sector operator and devolve decisions on rail services much closer to communities.”

But there was bad news from Ms Creagh from those hoping for a quick end of the unloved Pacer trains used on Northern services. Ms Creagh said Labour would not be able to rush to axe the trains as there was a risk there are no replacements ready.

“A train is better than no train, we have to remember that. There are delays on the Thameslink improvements, and we will then see a delay in getting trains from that line here. The problem is no one knows what the plan is for rolling stock in the country,”

Ms Creagh also said she was also determined to introduce London-style bus powers in West Yorkshire and elsewhere. Such powers would see councils come together to set routers and fares.