Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham and Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram have responded to this week’s statement from the Secretary of State for Transport on the decision to strip Northern Rail of the franchise:
“The news is a victory for passengers who have had to endure almost two years of misery and mayhem on Northern Rail.
“We are pleased the government has finally answered our call and returned the Northern franchise to public ownership. But today’s welcome move by ministers is only the start of fixing the North’s railways.
“The Government must now commit to investing in much-needed rail infrastructure and work with leaders across the North to deliver the vision and funding needed to build the modern transport network that the people of our region deserve.”
From the 1st March onwards, train services will be renationalised and run by the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Operator of Last Resort (OLR).
The announcement comes following regular delays and cancellations on its services in recent years by Northern Rail and its operator, Arriva Trains North, and there have been numerous calls from Northern politicians and passenger groups to terminate Northern Rail’s franchise, which was not due to end until 2025.
Earlier this year, the Transport Secretary had also raised questions about Northern Rail’s finances to continue operating into the second half of 2020. Northern Rail however have blamed their poor performance on external factors, such as delays in delivery of new trains from suppliers, industrial action and engineering works by Network Rail.
On 2nd January, Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced that he had set the wheels in motion for Northern Rail to potentially lose it’s franchise to operate in the region.
Following months of campaigning by Greater Manchester’s mayor Andy Burnham, the transport secretary made the announcement that he was reviewing Northern Rail’s franchise on BBC Breakfast following ‘unacceptable’ customer service.