Sunak warns Transpennine Express it risks losing contract

Rishi Sunak has warned northern rail operator Transpennine Express that it is in danger of having its contract stripped in the spring if scores of daily cancellations are left unresolved.

Asked by Conservative MP Jason McCartney whether government would end the “absolute misery” of passengers by getting “someone in who will deliver reliable rail services”, the prime minister did not rule out such a move.

There have already been discussions about whether to renew TPE’s contract in May, Sunak said on Wednesday, as he labelled the services “unacceptable”.

He added: “If ministers conclude the operator cannot be turned around then other decisions may be made.”

A senior government official said ministers were closely monitoring the performance of both TPE and Avanti West Coast, a separate train operator that was granted a six-month contract extension in October alongside an order to improve services significantly.

Both companies are operated by UK-listed transport company First Group, which declined to comment.

While no decisions have been made, the performance data reviewed by the Department for Transport showed that while Avanti was improving, TPE was not.

The government has also indicated that it had the resources to take on new train lines if needed.

Sunak’s comments mark the most significant government warning to the train company, and came after months of chaos on TPE’s network, which connects northern towns and cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.

Overall, TPE is cancelling just under one in five services, but one northern transport official said that figure was regularly about one in three during morning and evening peak times.

Speaking at the Convention of the North conference in Manchester, northern Labour mayors renewed calls for the contract to be nationalised.

Tracy Brabin, mayor of West Yorkshire, said there had been “just one” TPE train between Leeds and Huddersfield between 2.30pm and 6.30pm last Monday, after everything else was cancelled on the day.

“Because I’m the mayor and also a passenger, people see me and say ‘I’ve got to tell you what it’s like’,” she said, adding that people were missing funerals, college and job interviews. Some were even forced to relocate altogether.

“I met a woman working at Leeds University who was selling up in [the Pennines town of] Slaithwaite and moving to York or Leeds,” Brabin said, calling TPE a “failing operator”. “It’s a tapestry of misery.”

Disruption on the railways has been a problem throughout the UK. Between December 11 and January 7, 8 per cent of all scheduled trains were cancelled, according to the rail regulator.

TPE’s management is preparing a recovery plan to present to the government next month. But industry executives privately admitted there was no short-term solution and passengers faced a “new normal” of regular disruption unless drivers agreed to restart working overtime.

Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, said TPE’s performance since taking on its contract in 2016 had been “poor”, but “particularly the last 12 months”. “We cannot continue to leave things as they are,” he added.

TPE said: “We know that the service being offered to customers is unacceptable at present and we want to assure our customers throughout the region that we are doing all we can to resolve a number of issues.”