The rail minister has said the decision to nationalise TransPennine Express would allow the Government to look at the 'whole structure of rail in the North'.
Huw Merriman said ministers 'will take the opportunity' to look at other operators following the announcement, but added that he did not think it was a sign that further franchises would be needed to taken in-house. He said ministers are aiming to return TPE, which will be brought under government control following months of delays and cancellations, to the private sector.
Asked on LBC whether more services could be nationalised, the Tory minister said: "No, I don’t. I think those were matters particular to TransPennine Express.
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"We took the difficult decision to have a reset moment and transfer it over temporarily to the operator of last resort. It is the first time we have had to do that for performance reasons; the other three occasions have been due to financial management matters.
"We are looking to return it back to the private sector. It gives us an opportunity to look at the whole structure of rail in the North — we will take that opportunity but, quite frankly, we’ve got some really outdated agreements."
Mr Merriman urged unions to allow train drivers to work overtime again on TPE so new drivers could be trained more quickly in a bid to improve the service. The announcement came yesterday after months of speculation, following many more months of delays and cancellations impacting on frustrated commuters across Greater Manchester and the city region.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper warned the decision was 'not a silver bullet', while Graham Sutherland, chief executive of TransPennine Express owner FirstGroup, insisted the company has 'worked extremely hard to improve services'. Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said ministers have 'finally accepted they can no longer defend the indefensible'.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham vowed to work with the Government to 'restore trust in train services'. He tweeted: "As Mayors, we have spoken up consistently for long-suffering rail passengers in the North.
"I am glad the Government has listened. We will now work with them to restore trust in train services and build a railway people can rely on."
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