Five Labour mayors from across the North, including the North of Tyne Mayor, have called on the Government to treat the "chaos" in rail services across the north of England as an emergency.
Jamie Driscoll was joined by mayors from West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Manchester and Liverpool for an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon in the wake of weeks of disruption. The group want Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Transport Secretary Mark Harper to "haul operators to the table to sort out this mess," after hundreds of services have been cancelled by several rail operators including TransPennine Express, Northern and Avanti West Coast.
The statement from the five mayors read: "As thousands of last-minute cancellations continue to make life miserable for people in the North, and cause serious damage to the economy, the Government remains in a state of paralysis having just appointed its third Transport Secretary in seven weeks. If this level of disruption was being experienced in other parts of the country, we believe action would already have been taken to improve matters.
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"We do not accept that passengers in the North should be treated in this way and just expected to put up with it. We won’t.
"So today we are calling on the Prime Minister and his Transport Secretary Mark Harper to treat this emergency with the urgency it deserves. Only the Government can haul operators to the table to sort out this mess."
They have also called for a sign off without delay on the agreement on rest day working, which could put more drivers on the railways within days; a review of TransPennine Express by a six-month probation period before any suggestion of its contract being renewed in March 2023; and an urgent meeting with Ministers to agree a long-term plan for the future - with more funding needed if "levelling up" is to be more than a slogan.
Thursday's emergency meeting was called by West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin, who was joined by mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham; mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram; mayor of South Yorkshire Oliver Coppard; and Jamie Driscoll.
Speaking in Leeds after the meeting, Ms Brabin said they wanted to "put on record that we are sick to the back teeth of the situation, the shambles that we find ourselves in. This chaos has impacted on millions of people’s lives.
"It’s also derailing our economic ambitions for our region. This is really important given the economic chaos which was brought on by the mini-budget."
She also said that stories she had heard about people missing funerals and job interviews due to the continuing cancellations "would make you weep". The Department for Transport said on Thursday that Mr Harper had invited northern leaders to a meeting as soon as possible.
Labour said more than 40 services were cancelled on Tuesday and more than 60 on Wednesday on TransPennine Express, as the operator has seen hundreds of cancellations in recent weeks due to staffing issues. Transport for the North also disclosed that at the height of summer 2022, only 62% of Northern services arrived on time, marginally higher than 54% of TransPennine Express services, which has recently improved to 64 and 57% respectively.
Following on from the joint statement from the five mayors, Lord McLoughlin, Chair of Transport for the North, also called on the Government to urgently intervene to help end the current unacceptable levels of performance on the rail network in the north of England.
The transport body has called for a "Rail Academy of the North" to be set up to fast-track training of new drivers with the aim of addressing a "systemic problem". It also wants to get current devolved structures such as the Rail North Partnership Board working with the North's train operators to solve the Rest Day working issue while attempting to hold operators to account for delivery.
Lord McLoughlin, said: "The current situation on the North’s rail network is simply unacceptable. It’s completely inexcusable that communities in the North of England are having to experience such a dire level of service.
"It requires an urgent intervention as it's undermining businesses and holding back economic growth. At present, one operator TPE, has two in every five trains not arriving on time and it’s becoming the new normal on a network with far too many trains being cancelled; and too many cancelled at short notice causing chaos for commuters and local communities.
"We want to see the operators given the freedom to negotiate a solution to Rest Day Working by themselves, and for a ‘Rail Academy for the North’ to be fast-tracked, and for current devolved structures, such as the Rail North Partnership Board, to be strengthened and play a bigger role working with our partners across the North."
A spokeswoman for 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 we 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."
A DfT spokeswoman said: "It’s unacceptable that poor levels of service and strikes are preventing hard-working people from going about their daily lives. The Government is investing billions into northern transport and is working closely with train operators to ensure new drivers are swiftly recruited and long-term solutions are put in place so passengers can travel confidently without disruption.
"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."
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 advance tickets for journeys on the West Coast Main Line - with the then rail minister Kevin Foster saying on Tuesday that the Government is making preparations to intervene.
What do you think about the current situation with trains in the North? Let us know!
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