Northern mayors have called for train services run by TransPennine Express to be brought under public control at a major regional conference in Manchester. The Labour leaders have urged the government to cancel the rail company's contract complaining of years of 'poor' service at the Convention of the North.
It followed a speech by Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove at the annual convention in which he set out the government's position on devolution. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham described Mr Gove's speech as 'positive', but said that the government must 'reshape the region's railways'.
He said: "If we just put ourselves in the real world of our residents, there is one thing that is bringing a lot of negativity to the North at the moment, dragging down our economies and actually dragging down people's lives and their wellbeing. That is the failing train services across the North of England.
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"We are in a position where we can't accept it anymore, we can't allow them to damage our economy day after day. We can't allow them to damage people's lives day after day.
"There has to come a point where you say you can't accept this anymore. We're at that point."
Joined by Labour mayors from across the North - including the Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and North of Tyne - Mr Burnham called for TransPennine Express to lose its franchise and, like Northern Rail, be controlled by the government. It comes after analysis by Transport for Greater Manchester revealed that 18,000 rail services have been cancelled over the last 12 months, but only one-thirds led to financial penalties, Mr Burnham said.
West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin, who commutes on TransPennine Express, said the operator is 'not fit for purpose' and must lose its franchise, claiming that the impact of train cancellations across all operators is costing the North of England £8m a week. She said: "We have to get that connectivity sorted.
"These are our ambitions for our region. We want to deliver. We can't at the moment. Collectively we're saying to government they have got to get a grip."
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A spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: "TPE provides a hugely important service to communities across the North and Scotland. 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 and deliver a train service they can rely on.
"Prolonged disruption has been caused by a combination of ongoing high levels of sickness and an unprecedented training backlog following the pandemic, coupled with increased training demands to support major route and timetable upgrades, together with the withdrawal from overtime working by ASLEF drivers which has dramatically reduced our roster flexibility.
"The biggest and most immediate positive impact for customers would be for ASLEF to allow drivers to work overtime again. Late last year we were given authority from DfT to make a new overtime offer but this was rejected by ASLEF without putting it to their members. The offer remains on the table and we encourage everyone who can influence the situation to work together to improve the situation for all."
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