An emergency meeting has been called for today by regional mayors to discuss what they called the 'shambles' of rail services 'inflicting misery on millions of people' across the north west and Greater Manchester.
Together, they are expected to make a direct plea to the new Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, claiming the situation with cancelled trains was creating a direct challenge to regional economies.
The Manchester Evening News has reported how TransPennine Express cancelled 55 trains in one day last week, with the Labour Party claiming more than 40 services were cancelled on Tuesday and more than 60 on Wednesday.
Today - Thursday - its website displayed 52 cancelled services, with a host of other amended services, with many affecting Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport. The under-fire operator has cancelled hundreds of services in recent weeks due to staffing issues after the implementation of an emergency timetable, with passengers travelling between Manchester and Liverpool and Leeds hit badly by delays.
The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has previously called for an urgent cash injection from the Government for TransPennine Express and rail operator Northern. TransPennine runs regional and inter-city trains between cities and towns in the north, including Manchester.
West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin has called Thursday's meeting after weeks of disruption. As well as Ms Brabin, the meeting will include Mr Burnham; the mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram; mayor of the North of Tyne, Jamie Driscoll and mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard.
The mayors are expected to make a direct plea to the new Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, to intervene, saying the hundreds of last minute cancellations affecting the network is creating a direct challenge to the regional economy. On the other side of the Pennines, Avanti West Coast has been under fire for months over cancellations, delays, slashed timetables and a lack of advanced tickets for journeys on the West Coast Main Line.
Ms Brabin said she met with TransPennine Express earlier this week. She said on Thursday: "Today, we as Northern Mayors come together to send a clear message that we will not stand for this shambles. This is inflicting misery on millions of people, derailing our plans to build a strong northern economy and putting us in the slow lane.
"The North has been left behind for far too long, and we’re calling on the third transport secretary in as many months to step in with an immediate intervention."
On Wednesday, Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh urged ministers to intervene, saying they have 'refused to lift a finger to tackle the chaos'.
Ms Haigh said: "This ongoing fiasco is causing real damage to the public, passengers and the economy. It's time for ministers to put the country first, stop washing their hands of responsibility, and intervene.
"They should demand a binding plan from TransPennine Express for the urgent improvement of these vital services, claw back taxpayers’ money being handed over for trains that are no longer running and, if they cannot deliver, begin withdrawing the contract."
On Tuesday, the then rail minister Kevin Foster said the Government is making preparations to intervene if Avanti fails to deliver 'significant' improvements on the West Coast Main Line.
Avanti West Coast has been given until April 1 next year to improve its services following a reduction of its trains in the summer. Mr Foster said the six-month extension provides a “clear opportunity” for Avanti to improve its services to the “standard we and the public expect”.
But Mr Foster also signalled that the Government could take over Avanti’s network, which includes services from London to the West Midlands, the North West of England and Scotland, via its Operator of Last Resort.
TransPennine Express, following on from Avanti West Coast, announced a temporary timetable would come into force on September 12, leading to the reduced services. TPE at the time blamed 'higher-than-normal sickness levels and ongoing industrial relations issues' for the move, together with a 'training backlog as a direct result of Covid'.
The operator, which is owned by FirstGroup, said it would reduce the number of planned trains between north-west England and Scotland by 23 per cent in a further blow for passengers who use the West Coast Main Line. Dozens of TPE trains are currently being cancelled at short notice each day as a result, with the emergency timetables affecting routes connecting Manchester and Liverpool with Edinburgh and Glasgow, via Preston and Carlisle.
In a statement, TransPennine Express said: "Prior to December 2021 TransPennine Express (TPE) had posted its best ever performance results, and was subsequently recognised as “Train Operator of the Year” at the Rail Business Awards. Since then, 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."
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