“Permacrisis”, chosen on Tuesday as Collins Dictionary’s word of the year, is defined by the publisher as “an extended period of instability and insecurity”. There could be no better description of the current experience of passengers unfortunate enough to be attempting rail travel to, from and across much of the north of England.
For months, the horror stories of trains cancelled, delayed, truncated or suffocatingly overcrowded have accumulated online and among weary travellers marooned on northern platforms. Planning a trip on Avanti’s reduced west coast mainline services has become a journey into the unknown – vulnerable to late disruption and fiendishly difficult to book in advance for weekends. Travelling across the Pennines, with TransPennine Express (TPE) or Northern, is a similarly risky business. In October, TPE cancelled 44 services in a single day. Routes between Preston and Blackpool and from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness have at times been down by almost a third, according to figures released by the Office of Rail and Road.
