Northern Mayors call for FirstGroup to lose Transpennine rail contract

Mayors representing city-regions across Northern England have written to Transport Secretary Mark Harper, calling for transport company, FirstGroup to have their contract to run the Transpennine rail franchise terminated.

The move follows previous calls by by both Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, and West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin, at the Convention of the North conference in January. The rail operator, which runs intercity East-West services across Northern England and to Edinburgh and Glasgow, including links from Stockport to Liverpool, Warrington, Sheffield, and Cleethorpes, has come under fire for high levels of cancellations due to driver shortages.

FirstGroup’s contract to operate TransPennine Express rail services across the North is set to expire on 28th May 2023 and the region’s mayors are calling for the Transport Secretary to allow the Department for Transport to take over running of the franchise as the Operator of Last Resort. The DfT intervened in 2020 to run Northern Rail and the region’s Mayors highlighted how the change in ownership had led to improvements in service levels in making their case to the Transport Secretary.

In an open letter to Mark Harper, published on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority website and signed by mayors representing West and South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, and the North of Tyne and Liverpool city-regions, the Northern Mayors wrote:

“For a year we have heard TPE promise services are on the verge of improvement, but performance levels remain dire. Latest statistics from the Office of Rail and Road showing almost a quarter of TPE trains were cancelled in the four weeks between February and March.

“We are of the unanimous view that TransPennine Express needs to start afresh under
new ownership.”

Despite the poor performance of TransPennine Express, Northern Mayors expressed their concerns that the DfT was preparing to renew FirstGroup’s contract for the franchise. In a statement alongside their letter, the mayors commented:

“We are concerned by suggestions that First Group may be awarded a contract extension and cannot see how this can possibly be justified given the ongoing cancellations and poor service being provided.

“We have today written to the Secretary of State, as Mayors representing millions of people across the North, to reiterate our firm view that it is time for a fresh start.

“We stand ready to work with the Government to reshape our railways and make them work better for our regions. Moving now to an Operator of Last Resort will bring forward the change on the railways that the North desperately needs.”

Avanti West Coast, which operates services between London Euston and towns and cities in the North-west, has similarly had its contract extended for a further six months after marked improvements to punctuality, reliability and frequency of trains on its core weekday offering, with further extension conditional on improvements to other services and weekend timetables.