Andy Burnham has slammed Northern again over an ’embarrassing’ travel warning issued by the operator. Travellers were urged not to travel on various routes on Sunday (October 27) over the possibility of last minute cancellations.
Rail users were advised against using services, this time between Manchester Victoria and Chester, as well as from Manchester Piccadilly to Stoke due to ‘short notice cancellations’ in the north west.
The Greater Manchester Mayor announced he had called an ’emergency’ meeting with the Rail North Committee on Wednesday (October 30) over the recent issues blighting the rail network.
READ MORE Northern issues ‘do not travel’ warning in Manchester yet again
The Rail North Committee, chaired by Mr Burnham, advises the board of Transport for the North Board on rail services, infrastructure improvements and all matters relating rail franchises and contract management.
It comes just days after Mr Burnham slammed the rail operator as a ‘part-time rail service’, saying its performance was ‘falling far short of what passengers in Greater Manchester and the wider north deserve’.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote on Sunday: “We have called an emergency Rail North Committee for Wednesday to require a plan to bring an immediate end to this.
(Image: PA)
“’Do Not Travel’ notices between UK cities are embarrassing. Transport is critical to growth and right now Northern is damaging local economies across the North.”
Last week, in a series of social media posts, Mr Burnham said he wanted an ‘urgent plan’ to be put in place and said the current ‘level of service’ on Northern ‘can’t continue’.
“This is to give you notice that I will be calling an urgent meeting of the Rail North Committee to require an urgent plan to restore an acceptable level of service,” he said.
In another message, he hit out at rail privatisation. “The truth is we’re all trying to unpick the utter disaster that was rail privatisation,” he added.
Speaking previously to the Manchester Evening News, Mr Burnham added: “This level of service cannot continue. Northern’s performance is falling far short of what passengers in Greater Manchester and the wider north deserve.
“As we head into the busiest time of the year for our hospitality businesses and night time economy, we need more than a part-time rail service to support them. The current situation of repeated ‘do not travel’ warnings at the weekend just isn’t good enough.
“We want to bring eight local rail lines into the Bee Network within my mayoral term. That will mean we will be able to have a greater say over services and reliability, as we’ve done with the buses, with passengers able to hold local leaders to account.
“In the longer term, this model will build a transport system that works for the north and supports our ambitions for growth and prosperity.”
The new Labour Government said in September new legislation would see rail services renationalised once their contracts expire, or if operators fail to deliver on their commitments. It’s set to be one of the first new laws to be introduced and was first unveiled in the King’s Speech in July.
In its latest performance summary, from September 15 to October 12, Northern said there were 1,162 ‘short notice’ cancellations. There were 910 removed on Sundays in total.
Pre-planned service cancellations, known as P-coded trains, are removed from systems by 10pm the evening before, but the system was designed to be used in the event of exceptional circumstances like a derailment as a short-term stop-gap.
Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern in the North West, said: “We are sorry for customers affected by service cancellations, which are always a last resort and only applied when we have no other option.
“Train crew availability remains an issue as we are carrying out essential training and colleague sickness remains high, this has been further compounded by not having a driver rest day working agreement. We are working hard to improve train crew availability.”
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