North-west transport and business leaders welcome Transpennine Express being brought under public control

Following yesterday’s announcement by the Transport Secretary that rail company, Transpennine Express, would be brought under public control by the Department for Transport (DfT) Operator of Last Resort, local leaders from across the North-west have expressed their support for the decision.

Commenting on Twitter shortly after the announcement was made, Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, welcomed the news and expressed his intention to work with the DfT on improving services for passengers in the city-region moving forward. Alongside counterparts from other city-region’s across the North, Andy Burnham has been a key voice in calling for FirstGroup to lose the contract to run Transpennine Express services; he said:

“As Mayors, we have spoken up consistently for long-suffering rail passengers in the North. I am glad the Government has listened. We will now work with them to restore trust in train services and build a railway people can rely on.”

Andy Burnham also announced earlier this week that further detail would be released in June on how some local rail services in the city-region (currently operated by Northern, and under public control since early 2020) would be brought under the remit of Greater Manchester’s Bee Network of public transport and active travel links under new devolution arrangements.

Regional transport body, Transport for the North, has also been a long standing critic of Transpennine Express’ past performance across the region. Lord McLoughlin, Chair of TfN and former Transport Secretary under David Cameron, said in a statement on the TfN website:

“We welcome the decision announced today by the Secretary of State to bring the contract under Operator of Last Resort (OLR) for TransPennine Express.

“The Transport for the North Board’s position on this issue has been clear for some considerable time, that services need to significantly improve. While we have seen some improvements over recent months, to achieve the performance levels passengers expect and deserve, and that the northern economy needs, there is a need for a resetting of the operation.

“We will now look forward positively to discussing with our members and working with the government to ensure the best way to achieve a service that meets the expectations of those living and working in the north.”

Business leaders in the city-region have also welcomed the news. Lou Cordwell OBE, Chair of the Greater Manchester Business Board (formerly the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership), highlighted the economic damage to the region that poor performance on Transpennine Express’ intercity routes has inflicted:

“We welcome today’s [11th May] decision by the Department for Transport to not renew its contract with TransPennine Express. It is an important step towards providing the reliable train services that people, businesses and investors in Greater Manchester and the wider North so desperately need.

“The consistently poor performance of TransPennine Express has caused significant damage to the economy of our city-region. The result of thousands of cancelled services – as many as one in six, often with just a few hours’ notice – is cancelled events, lost sales, and a decline footfall in our towns and city centres. The estimated cost to the North is almost £4m a week in lost productivity.

“This has come at a time of unprecedented difficulty for businesses, who can ill afford to deal with the additional challenge brought on by an inadequate rail service.”