It was the elephant in the room at today’s Convention of the North in Manchester and it was no surprise that the North’s Mayor’s used their press conference to call for the rail operator Transpennine Express to be taken into public ownershio
Andy Burnham led the calls telling the assembled journalists that
We’re at the end of the line with the current operator of TransPennine Express We think it is time to put it under public control.”
“It’s time to reshape the railways of the North.”
As if to clarify the situation,today saw another 52 trains cancelled adding to the 15,000 that have been cancelled in the last 12 months
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin had earlier said that “They’ve proven they are not up to the task, so it’s now time that they hand the reins over to someone who is. It can’t be that this government continues to reward failure.”
The subject was also raised at Prime Minister’s questions with Rishi Sunak saying that the current service is “not acceptable” and that Ministers will strip TPE of their franchise if they don’t turn things around.
