There's been growing frustration among Northern users over the increasing number of cancellations, delays, disruptions and ticketing issues.

The Greater Manchester mayor is urging the Chancellor to allocate funding in her Spending Review to enable him to bring the region’s beleaguered rail services under public ownership by 2028.

Speaking to the i Paper, Burnham said it’s time to “rethink the railway.” He has already submitted a proposal to take control of eight Greater Manchester railway lines currently run by struggling operator Northern.

“We’ve got to have it in the Spending Review. I need a plan in the Spending Review that gets rail into the Bee Network [Greater Manchester’s public transport system] by the end of the mayoral term [in 2028],” he said.

Buses in Greater Manchester have been brought back under local control for the first time in 40 years. Early evidence reportedly shows that reliability has improved, new services have been introduced, and the number of passengers travelling on buses has increased.

According to the Greater Manchester mayor, integrating local train services should be easier, as “the mountain of re-regulating buses was bigger than bringing trains under public control.”

Burnham expects other mayors to follow. He said:

“This is how Northern is going to have to change. Because as West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Liverpool city region regulate the buses, Steve [Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool] integrates his buses with Merseyrail, his Northern services should come in exactly the same way and in those other places as well.”

At the end of 2024, Labour announced its English Devolution Bill which will give mayors significantly greater powers, including a legal responsibility for “governing, managing, planning and developing the rail network” in their region. The mayors will work in partnership with the new public body that will oversee the renationalisation of rail services, Great British Railways.

Andy Burnham is one of 12 metro mayors, with another four set to be elected later this year. The mayors will be offered the “right to request” a greater role in running local train services.

Since 2019, Northern cancellations have almost doubled despite the franchise being stripped from former private transport firm Arriva in 2020 and taken under the control of the government via the Operator of Last Resort (OLR).

Northern received £648m in subsidies from the government in 2024, a significant jump from the year before when it was £597m.

There has been growing frustration among Northern users over the increasing number of cancellations, delays, disruptions and ticketing issues.

But some are opposed to the renationalisation plan. Conservative’s shadow Transport Secretary Gareth Bacon told the i Paper Labour’s proposal will not reduce the burden and “will merely funnel billions of pounds of taxpayer money into an ideological project to appease the unions.”

But Burnham believes integrating rail services into local transport systems can lead to a model less reliant on subsidy in the future.

“What’s the potential of the railway in a more integrated system, of the kind Greater Manchester is developing and London did before? What’s the potential for housing growth?”

“I would say it’s pretty great and then some of the proceeds of that then come back in to modernise the stations and put disability access in,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “We are already delivering on our commitments to give local leaders more powers to shape rail services in their area to best serve their communities – including through Great British Railways and the English Devolution White Paper.

“Despite a deeply challenging inheritance of unfunded infrastructure promises for the North, we are delivering transformational projects such as the multi-billion pound TransPennine Route Upgrade, and will be setting out next steps as part of the Spending Review.”

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