Calls for TransPennine Express to lose franchise over continued cancellations

Northern Mayors have called on the Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, to strip rail operator TransPennine Express of its franchise running intercity routes across Northern England.

Speaking at the Convention of the North in Manchester city centre yesterday, city-region leaders from Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region, West and South Yorkshire made a joint call for the Transport Secretary to strip the firm of its franchise.

TransPennine Express operate intercity East-West services across Northern England as well as trains to Edinburgh and Glasgow. The franchise also includes links from Stockport to Liverpool, Warrington, Sheffield, and Cleethorpes.

In 2022, TransPennine Express, alongside Avanti West Coast, had cut its timetables as a result of the combined impact of driver shortages and industrial disputes with the Aslef trade union which is seeing train drivers refuse overtime on rest days. While Avanti West Coast has made progress in restoring service levels after being put on notice by former Transport Secretary Anne Marie-Trevelyan, figures for January show that the TransPennine Express is cancelling as many as 45% of trains each day. This figure comes despite the rail operator introducing a new timetable in December aimed at reducing disruption to passengers. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the rail operator was warned to improve services when the Department of Transport took over the Northern franchise in 2020, but targets were dropped as a result of the pandemic’s impact on public transport.

Speaking to the Convention for the North conference, West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin criticised the rail operator for costing the region £8 million per day in lost productivity due to poor rail links for commuters and restricted links between the North’s main conurbations. In her speech, she made reference to her own experiences commuting on TransPennine Express services, as well as those shared with her by other passengers who had moved house to avoid the disruption.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during Prime Ministers Questions on 25th January has since remarked that service levels offered by TransPennine Express were ‘unacceptable’, with the Financial Times reporting that performance across the franchise was being closely monitored by government.