'People in the north of England should not be expected to put up with a substandard service.'
Anger is mounting in the North West over Northern Rail’s poor performance. After numerous cancellations and delays, Jon Pearce, Labour MP for High Peak, has written to the train company demanding an urgent meeting.
In a Facebook post, Pearce expressed the frustration of his constituents: “Such a poor railway service is not acceptable for High Peak and a barrier to the growth of our area and Britain. We need this to change.”
The MP posted a letter he had sent to Tricia Williams, chief executive of Northern Rail. It read: “You will no doubt be aware of the level of frustration of many passengers of Northern Rail services across the North of England. I have been contacted by many of my constituents in High Peak expressing their frustration and anger at the service failures of Northern Rail. These include service cancellations, severe delays, and disruptions and ticketing issues, all affect their daily lives. I would welcome an urgent meeting with yourself to discuss these issues.”
His post attracted a wave of comments from residents, many criticising the state of public transport in the region.
“Good work, Jon. Sadly, the bus services aren’t much better. So, constituents in High Peak experience all round difficulties with public transport day after day,” wrote one local.
Calls for Northern Rail to be returned to public ownership also surfaced. One constituent said: “Every train after 18.14 cancelled last night at very short notice on the Sheffield to Manchester line. Only option was a rail replacement bus at 9.30pm that would have got to Chinley at gone 11pm. Apparently this was due to a lack of staff because northern have capped overtime basically meaning they want the staff to work more hours for free. Needs taking back into public ownership. Appalling.”
In response to the ongoing disruptions, Northern leaders, including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, convened an urgent Rail North Committee meeting to address the crisis.
Burnham criticised rail services in the North as “embarrassing” and highlighted the absurdity of Northern using fax machines to communicate cancellations among staff. The Greater Manchester mayor said substantial reform was needed.
“We’ve seen a big deterioration in performance of Northern Trains in recent months, they need to be held to account,” he said.
“People in the north of England should not be expected to put up with a substandard service. People here should no longer be treated as second-class citizens when it comes to transport.
“Everyone knows this would not be tolerated in London.”
Northern is owned by a holding company of the Department for Transport (DfT), which stated it has met with Northern leaders twice times since taking office. A DfT spokesperson said: “The transport secretary has been crystal clear – poor rail performance will not be tolerated.
“Ministers continue to hold operators and Network Rail to account to tackle ongoing cancellations and delays plaguing passengers.
“Since taking office, the government has already settled national industrial disputes, and Great British Railways will be tasked with driving up performance and putting passengers first.”
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