People in London used to think I was making it up when I told them what an ordeal it was planning a journey on TransPennine Express (TPE). It sounded so absurd. The angst began as soon as you dared to book a ticket, wondering whether the train you had chosen to get you to Manchester Airport for a flight, to Leeds for an interview or to Cleethorpes for the seaside, would actually run. The niggling feeling: maybe I should drive, just to be safe?
The night before, you needed to stay up until 10pm, when TPE would publish a list of “planned cancellations” for the following day. There were regularly 50 cancellations, sometimes 100, invariably blamed on staff shortages and sometimes the rail unions too. You’d then have to make alternative plans which might involve leaving the house before the kids woke up, booking a taxi or begging your employers to let you join that meeting by Zoom instead.
