TransPennine Express (TPE) has just become the second operator of trains serving Greater Manchester to be brought under government control after months of poor performance. It was a decision welcomed by leaders and residents across the north after consistent disruption had left travellers regularly frustrated.
The Department for Transport has said TPE's contract will not be renewed at the end of May. It follows Northern Rail being brought under government control early in 2020, after what then transport secretary Grant Shapps described as 'unacceptable' performance.
TPE's services connect commuters travelling between Northern cities and towns. The operator losing its franchise comes months after Mayors from across the north - including Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham, West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin, and Steve Rotheram, mayor of Liverpool’s city region - called for the services it ran to be brought under public control as last minute cancellations continued to mount.
A joint letter from the mayors to the government said it was time for a ‘fresh start’.
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The operator had been kept on watch by the government this year, submitting a ‘recovery plan’, but this did not stop it ranking highest of all train operators in terms of cancellations, by some distance. Data from regulator Office of Rail and Road revealed that TPE cancelled almost a quarter of its services between January 8 and February this year, an average of around 37 every day.
At least 1,048 services were cancelled using a loophole known as P-codes, in which trains are removed from systems by 10pm the evening before, but do not count towards official cancellation figures. This meant passengers could wake up and find their planned service had simply disappeared from the system.
And, on Thursday (May 11), the government decided to act. In a statement the Department for Transport (DfT) said: “While some improvements have been made over the past few months, it has been decided that to achieve the performance levels passengers deserve, and that the northern economy needs, both the contract and the underlying relationships must be reset. The decision to bring TransPennine Express into the control of the Operator of Last Resort is temporary and it is the Government’s full intention that it will return to the private sector.”
Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, would subsequently point to strikes from the train drivers’ union, Aslef, for being one of the major factors behind the challenges faced by TPE. He said: “In my time as Transport Secretary, I have been clear that passenger experience must always come first. After months of commuters and northern businesses bearing the brunt of continuous cancellations, I’ve made the decision to bring TransPennine Express into Operator of Last Resort.
“This is not a silver bullet and will not instantaneously fix a number of challenges being faced, including Aslef’s actions which are preventing TransPennine Express from being able to run a full service – once again highlighting why it’s so important that the railways move to a seven-day working week. We have played our part but Aslef now need to play theirs by calling off strikes and the rest day working ban, putting the very fair and reasonable pay offer to a democratic vote of their members.”
According to a survey by watchdog Transport Focus, TPE was voted the joint worst performing train operator by customers. Anthony Smith, Transport Focus’s chief executive, said in a statement: “TransPennine Express passengers have endured an unacceptable service for too long. In our latest survey, TransPennine Express was rated the joint worst performing train operator and just 67 per cent of passengers were satisfied with how punctual their journey was.
“Whichever organisation runs TransPennine Express rail services – under whatever contractual arrangements – passengers will want to see a much more reliable service. It’s clear that passengers deserve better and the operator needs to take action to improve performance and build back passenger trust.”
Travellers and commuters in Greater Manchester and beyond are no strangers to delays across the network. Years of delays and cancellations are what led to Northern Rail being brought in as an Operator of Last Resort in 2020, even before the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic put further pressure on the system.
Before that there was the timetable crisis of 2018, when countless services were delayed or cancelled when a botched new timetable was brought in of May that year. Services were cut after this to try and ease these problems, with many of these yet to be restored.
Meanwhile, Greater Manchester awaits infrastructure upgrades. The Manchester Evening News has long asked politicians when platforms 15 and 16 will be built at Manchester Piccadilly and when Oxford Road station will be expanded. These, along with other measures such as the completed Ordsall Chord, are supposed to help ease the bottleneck that is the Castlefield Corridor, a major factor in the crisis of 2018.
Many plans have been announced over the years promising to improve this and transport connections in the north from HS2, to Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), and the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP). But movement has been slow.
HS2’s link line to Manchester was delayed by at least two years in March, which came as another blow after NPR was scaled back late last year. This plan was originally set out as a £36bn new 40-mile high speed line connecting Manchester and Leeds via Bradford, and would eventually be extended between Liverpool and Hull.
So, for many after years of bad news when it comes to transport in the north, TPE being brought under government control was seen as a positive for many. Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said he was ‘glad the government had listened’.
“As Mayors, we have spoken up consistently for long-suffering rail passengers in the North. I am glad the Government has listened,” he said. “We will now work with them to restore trust in train services and build a railway people can rely on.”
Over the Pennines, West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin said: “It is absolutely right that this is the end of the line for failing railway operator TransPennine Express. We’ve been urging government to act for almost a year, as delays and cancellations have damaged our economy and subjected commuters in the North to sheer misery.
“This is a victory for northern mayors who rallied together to hold TransPennine Express and Rishi Sunak’s Government to account on this issue. We hope this allows an opportunity to reset relationships with staff who have borne the brunt of operator failings and look forward to hearing how the new operator intends to improve services.
“As the voice of passengers, I will continue to speak up for their interests first and foremost.”
However, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Henri Murison, believes the government taking control of the operator will make ‘little difference’. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, he said: “I think, sadly, it will make probably only a very limited difference.
“We need a resolution to the national pay deal. We’ve been left with a legacy where millions of pounds a week are being knocked off the northern economy.
“I genuinely want to celebrate some good news. But I just don’t think this is going to make the lives of me and others better.
“What we want is the industrial issues solved. That is the only way to get this to be better.”
He added that delays and cancellations need to be fixed to achieve their levelling-up ambitions. “We want to see Northern Powerhouse Rail delivered in full.
“But it’s very hard for me to say to business leaders that we’re going to transform northern productivity and grow the labour market of cities like Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield by improving connectivity when so many of the trains are pretty slow and unreliable. They look at me and say: ‘We can’t really use the existing service, why on earth are you talking about something in 10 years?’”
Graham Sutherland, chief executive of TransPennine Express owner FirstGroup, said: "We have operated TransPennine Express and its forerunners since 2004, and are very proud to have served the communities across northern England and into Scotland, carrying millions of passengers and introducing new trains, new routes and more seats for our customers. Our team have worked extremely hard to improve services, including by recruiting and training more drivers than ever before.
"We have also worked closely with the Department for Transport and Transport for the North on an agreed recovery plan as well as an improved offer on overtime working for our drivers. FirstGroup is a leading UK rail operator with a strong and diversified portfolio.
"Today’s decision does not alter our belief in the important role of private rail operators in the delivery of vital, environmentally-friendly transport for customers and communities across the UK."
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