Region’s Mayors call out “unacceptable” service levels on Northern

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and other metro mayors in the North of England have written to the Chancellor and Secretary of State of Transport calling for support to address poor service levels being delivered by Northern.

The letter follows an emergency meeting of the Rail North Committee, chaired by Andy Burnham, that sought assurances from the rail operator amid frequent cancellations, overcrowding and ‘Do Not Travel’ warnings on Sunday services. The past week – half-term for many schools in the North – saw around 1,600 trains cancelled across the network, with a lack of mitigations in place such as ticket acceptance with other operators.

Weekend travel, particularly on Sundays, is worst hit, with Greater Manchester now regularly seeing between 30% and 40% of services cancelled. ‘Do Not Travel’ warnings have been issued on 45 occasions on Sundays across Greater Manchester routes, also with no alternative travel options provided.

The meeting saw leaders interrogate the operator’s remedial plan to get services back to an acceptable standard as swiftly as possible, and uncovered out of date ways of working, including the continued use of fax machines to communicate with staff. The Committee also heard how services were impacted by infrastructure challenges, high staff sickness levels and the business’s reliance on staff working on rest days, which has led to last minute cancellations and overcrowded trains.

Greater Manchester Mayor and Chair of the Rail North Committee Andy Burnham said:

“Efficient and reliable public transport is a critical enabler of economic growth, a key ambition we share with the new government. What we heard from Northern at the meeting of the Rail North Committee was not good enough for residents and businesses across the north.

“That is why, on behalf of the Rail North Committee, I have written to the Chancellor and the Secretary of State to urge them to support us to bring the service back to an acceptable level. Significant modernisation is needed by Northern if they are to match our ambitions for growth.

“The Committee will be closely scrutinising Northern’s plan and seeking assurance that they are addressing the points raised at the meeting, when the Committee meets again on 20 November. We would welcome the Government’s full support in implementing the necessary actions, especially in the urgent areas of Rest Day Working and resolving Sunday arrangements.”

Leaders want to work with Government and Northern, which has been operated by the Department for Transport’s Operator of Last Resort since 2020, to address the issues at hand, particularly around ensuring adequate staff coverage to ensure a 7-days-a-week service.

Greater Manchester is also planning to bring eight commuter train lines currently operated by Northern into the Bee Network by 2028, giving the city-region a greater devolved role over services and creating better integration with its bus and tram services, as well as its active travel network.