Northern mayors urge ministers to fix intercity rail service

Northern leaders have urged ministers to intervene to fix the failings of a second major rail operator or risk further disruptions for tens of thousands of commuters in the north of England.

The region’s mayors said they wanted Transpennine Express, which runs services between cities including Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, put on notice after troubled west coast mainline operator Avanti was given a similar stay of execution on its contract earlier this month.

Around one in five of TPE’s daily services are currently being cancelled at short notice due to driver shortages. Complaints about the operator rocketed by more than 200 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter, according to figures from the Office of Rail and Road published on Thursday.

Mayors of northern cities called on new transport secretary Mark Harper to get around the table with the operator and transport unions to find a solution to the crisis.

“We are calling on the prime minister and his transport secretary Mark Harper to treat this emergency with the urgency it deserves,” said the statement from mayors in Liverpool, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and North of Tyne. “Only the government can haul operators to the table to sort out this mess.”

The leaders called for TPE to be given a six-month “probation period” during which its performance could be monitored, before ministers decide whether to renew its contract in May.

TPE’s problems stem in part from the end of the rest-day working agreement it had in place with trade unions until December last year. Like most rail operators, it has relied on staff working overtime in order to cover its full timetable. Since the loss of that arrangement it has struggled to do so.

Backlogs in driver training and sickness have also contributed to a surge in short-notice cancellations, with a particular spike in the last fortnight.

Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership lobby group of businesses, agreed the government had to intervene to negotiate a reinstated rest-day working agreement which would allow the operator enough capacity to train drivers.

Without an agreement, the introduction of a new national timetable in December could trigger a repeat of May 2018 when a similar move led to systematic failings across the rail network in the North of England, he warned.

“In December 2022 we are supposed to see direct services introduced that we vitally need, like from Hull to Liverpool,” he said. “But if we try and deliver that without rest day working in place, then we will see a meltdown a lot worse than the May 2018 debacle.”

TPE is run by First Group, also a partner in the consortium running Avanti, which runs intercity services between London and cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

Avanti has faced fury from MPs and passengers since August due to the curtailing of its west coast mainline services. The company’s declining performance led the government to refuse to renew its contract earlier this month, instead extending it for six months.

David Hagerty, chair of Slaithwaite & Marsden Action on Rail Transport, in West Yorkshire, said people in his area had been hit by a stream of last-minute cancellations to services both to Leeds and to Manchester.

“It can’t go on like this and between the Department for Transport and TPE, they need to come up with and share a plan for what they’re going to do to make things right and what difference it’s going to make,” he said.

The opposition Labour party said 60 out of between 200 and 300 timetabled TPE services did not run on Wednesday, calling the situation an “ongoing fiasco”.

TPE said the firm was working “flat out to deliver higher levels of service delivery”, but that “prolonged disruption” had been caused by high levels of sickness, a “persisting training backlog” due to Covid-19 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.”

The DfT said poor rail services were “unacceptable”, adding: “The department has written to northern leaders inviting them to meet with the transport secretary as soon as possible so, together, we can provide the reliable service passengers across the region deserve.”