The mayors of West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Manchester, Liverpool and North of Tyne have written to the Transport Secretary asking him not to renew FirstGroup’s contract to run the train service when their deal expires on May 28th .
In an open letter to Transport Secretary Mark Harper, the mayors argue that allowing TPE, to continue operating would amount to “rewarding failure and be a betrayal of passengers in the north”.
“We are of the unanimous view that TransPennine Express needs to start afresh under new ownership.” they say adding:
“We urge you to put the views of the passengers of the North ahead of any other considerations when making the decision on the future of TransPennine Express. Rail passengers have had enough. The Northern economy has had enough, the failure of TPE is holding us back. We need change now.”
“ongoing cancellations and poor service” being provided by TPE meant a new contract for the operator could not be justified.
They said: “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.”
The operator says that it had put in place a recovery plan which has reduced cancellations by 40 per cent and is seeking a new deal on overtime payments for drivers, which it said would further improve services “within days” if enacted.
However the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said the FirstGroup-owned company’s cancellation score for the four weeks to 4 March had worsened from 7.2 per cent to 23.8 per cent when adjusted to include pre-cancellations due to a shortage of train crew. TPE has been affected by drivers no longer volunteering to work paid overtime shifts.
