Put more carriages on to reduce Christmas mayhem on York trains, MP demands

Keir Mather, the MP for Selby, has asked the train operator to increase the number of carriages on its Sherburn-in-Elmet to York services throught the Christmas period.

He said: “Two carriages clearly aren’t sufficient for busy weekend services in the run up to Christmas, so I’ve written to Northern asking them to increase capacity over the next few weekends, and I hope that they’ll make this happen.”

The train operator has apologised for the service, saying it is “not good enough,” but stopped short of committing to putting on extra carriages.

A spokesperson for Northern, said: “We apologise to customers affected by overcrowded services at Sherburn in Elmet and we are sorry for our recent performance, which we accept has not been good enough.

“We are working hard to address issues with traincrew availability so we can improve reliability for our customers, particularly on Sundays. Our timetable is designed to balance capacity with demand – and the twice-yearly timetable change provides an opportunities to review service levels.

“We realise there is more to be done to address issues with performance and are now focused on delivering our improvement plan.”

It comes as under-fire Northern bosses who blamed rail unions for the use of fax machines have never spoken to them about modernising their technology, it has emerged.

Northern Trains' MD Tricia Williams told an emergency meeting in October the firm could not get rid of the 1980s technology without trade union agreement.

But a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed the firm has not actually asked rail unions about stopping the use of the machines.

In the FOI, Northern was asked if it had carried out any discussions with trade unions over the use of fax machines since 2020, and for records of the discussions.

In response, the train operating company - which has been run by the Department for Transport’s Operator of Last Resort since 2020 - said: “Northern has not had formal discussions with the trade unions on the specific topic of fax machines.

“However, Northern discussed the introduction and use of new and existing technologies as part of pay negotiations earlier this year, and also discussed technology with the trade unions in 2021.

“These discussions were not minuted and did not result in an agreement on the use of technology for the respective grade groups.”

During the emergency meeting on October 30, Northern bosses were grilled by regional leaders about poor performance.

And it was revealed the company still uses fax machines to communicate internally, prompting a backlash by incredulous Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Mr Burnham said the company could end its use of fax machines ‘tomorrow’ and its continued use of the machine looked like a “disregard for the travelling public.”