Daily services are 'unacceptable' and planned improvements aren't what political leaders have called for
Railways "are not just about getting people from A to B", said then-Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on November 18, 2021, as he unveiled the Government's Integrated Rail Plan setting out its vision for train services in the North and Midlands.
Indeed Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham told a meeting this week that the number of cancellations by some train firms was as bad now as the summer of 2018, when a catastrophic breakdown of services in the North sparked a huge political backlash. What followed was deeply disappointing. Rather than a full new high speed line between Manchester and Leeds, as the PM had promised, the new line stopped in Marsden, West Yorkshire. The Eastern leg of HS2 between the East Midlands and Leeds was scrapped and there was nothing for the North East, Hull or Bradford.
In his autumn statement yesterday, Jeremy Hunt promised to deliver the 'core' NPR, widely thought to mean last November's scaled-down IRP version which Ministers insist will deliver benefits to passengers more quickly than the 'full-fat' plan put forward by Northern politicians. "That is why it's really important to have that new line. And to be honest, it's also about investing in infrastructure at a time when we need those good jobs."And Andy Burnham said last night: "The North deserves much better than being given the run around like this.
Keith Simpson, who chairs the North East branch of passenger group Rail Future, said the IRP contained "many fine aspirations" but ultimately "was an attempt to dress up in a positive light the dropping of such schemes as HS2 East and Northern Powerhouse Rail". Cancellations and late running have plagued the line for far too long, he says, with many potential users preferring to drive to Preston to catch their train there because they’re not willing to run the risk of the service along the South Fylde line not running.
He said: “That is the right thing to do and I would just say to her if we didn’t take the difficult decisions that we are taking today we would never be able to improve our transport infrastructure, and we don’t want that." Despite this, passengers have been returning to trains in the North in greater numbers than elsewhere in the country after the pandemic, with demand now at 87% of pre-Covid levels.
Timetables have been scaled back - with fewer scheduled trains - to ensure the services that do run are reliable. And all eyes will be on the railways on December 12 when the latest timetable kicks in, this time with more regular services to cope with demand. Keith Little, a councillor in Cumbria, told of Avanti passengers whose morning trains were cancelled and then had to squeeze onto a standing-room-only train with young children on a later service. "I don't know what can be done about it," he said. "For the travelling public it isn't getting any better."
"You still can't buy advanced tickets if you want to go and visit your family this Christmas. There's more strike dates that are still being announced," he said. "So I worry that these promises that we're receiving in December are not going to get met." But it's also suggesting changes to the fragmented way the rail industry is managed, including regional business units which would allow local people in the North more say on how the railways are run.
"But that's been entirely dashed because it's quite clear that there is no interest in government in taking that plan forward. All of which means that despite the warm words from successive governments about commitment to transforming rail connections in the North, optimism about the future hard to find.
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