The Mayors of the Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester joined forces to call for an end to the "chaos and poor performance" on the region's railways.
Both Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham called on train operators TransPennine Express (TPE) and Avanti West Coast to be stripped of their franchises if they don't improve, and for the Government to step in and force them to act or make way for another government that will.
Ironically both Mr Rotheram and Mr Burnham were delayed for the press conference this morning outside Liverpool Lime Street station after the train they were due to travel on was cancelled.
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They spoke of passengers being "in despair" over the state of the train service, with vital hospital appointments missed and "having their lives turned upside down."
Mr Burnham said: "It's not good enough. We need an action plan to sort out the service across the north of England. If the Government can't fix it, they should let another government fix it."
Mr Rotheram condemned the "musical chairs" currently taking place which meant operators were faced with short-lived Transport Secretaries, adding: "The sausage machine is clogged, it's not working. We also need train operators who will optimise the opportunities we've got here, especially with the major events coming to the Liverpool city region over the next few months such as Eurovision.
"We are having detailed discussions with all the train operating companies because we want a first-class service.
"We're not second class citizens in the north so we shouldn't have a second class rail system."
Both Mayors said train operators had been put in financial straitjackets and unable to bring in staff needed to run services since the pandemic, in particular rest day working. Avanti's contract was due to expire on October 16, but was renewed on a short term basis until April 1 2023.
In response, a spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: "Prior to December 2021 TransPennine Express (TPE) had posted its best ever performance results, and was subsequently recognised as 'Train Operator of the Year' at the Rail Business Awards.
"Since then, prolonged disruption affecting our services has been caused by a range of issues including ongoing high levels of train crew sickness, a persisting training backlog as a direct result of Covid, and infrastructure issues outside of TPE's control. Combined, these factors have seen a number of on-the-day or 'evening before' cancellations being made.
"In normal circumstances, we have enough people to fully operate our scheduled timetable – and have more drivers now than ever before – however the combination of factors has put unprecedented pressure on our ability to effectively operate our services.
"Our customers want, and deserve, reliable and punctual train services, and we are sorry have not been able to consistently provide that due to the ongoing issues. TPE's team continues to work flat-out to deliver higher levels of service delivery and to tackle the issues that are being experienced by customers."
An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: "We know we're not delivering the service our customers rightly expect and we apologise for the enormous frustration and inconvenience caused. Our customers and communities deserve a dependable train service, and we’re working hard to rebuild our timetable in a resilient and sustainable way.
"We have added up to 10 additional services day on our Manchester route and in December the service will be restored to its full three trains an hour.
"Resolving this situation requires a robust plan that will allow us to increase services without being reliant on traincrew overtime, which has fallen dramatically in recent weeks. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding."
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