Northern rail services rapped as ‘unacceptable’

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The government has described Northern rail services as “unacceptable” as delays continue to plague its trains.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he is “not prepared” to tolerate the commuter line’s poor performance.

In October, Mr Shapps said he had taken steps that could lead to the operator being stripped of its franchise.

Northern rail said the late delivery of big infrastructure projects had disrupted its services.

The RMT union described the comments as a “distraction” to rail fare increases coming into effect from Thursday.

Giving evidence to the Commons’ Transport Select Committee last year, the transport secretary said that he had issued a “request for proposals” from the company and the Operator of Last Resort.

This could lead to Northern rail’s service being brought under government control.

The rail operator company has faced several issues in recent years, such as cancellations after the introduction of new timetables.

David Brown, managing director at Northern, said the company had faced challenges outside of its control in recent years.

One includes the late delivery of major infrastructure projects, such as the North West electrification, more than two years late.

Mr Brown added: “Arriva and Northern remain fully committed to delivering the transformation of the North’s railways and improving customers’ experience. We are delivering the biggest transformation of local rail for a generation.”

The RMT union’s general secretary Mike Cash also called the announcement a “distraction” from fare rises.

He said: “If Grant Shapps was serious, he would set out a timetable for removing the Northern rail franchise from Arriva and their replacement with the public sector operator.”

Millions of commuters now have to pay an average of 2.7% more for train tickets, with some annual passes to increase by more than £100.

What might happen to Northern?

The process to decide whether Northern should be stripped of its franchise is still ongoing.

The BBC understands a decision is likely to come in “a matter of weeks”.

Broadly speaking, there are two options;

  • The government could charge the Operator of Last Resort (a public company which already manages the LNER franchise) to take control of the Northern franchise. Under this scenario, Northern’s parent company Arriva would be out of the picture
  • Or it could convert the franchise into a “management contract”, which would mean that Arriva would still be running the trains but for a set fee and the DfT would effectively set the parameters (i.e. what services, when, who long the trains etc.).

The situation has arisen because Northern is not meeting many of its obligations under the current franchise contract (longer trains, new services (particularly on Sunday) but performance is a big part of it and the Northern franchise was losing money for some time.

Northern recently insisted its passenger numbers are growing again after a period of decline following the 2018 timetable.

It’s unclear whether the franchise is still making a loss today.

A senior rail source told the BBC that there is certainly a “ramping up of the language” on the issue.

The Department for Transport confirmed that Mr Shapps had started the process that could strip Northern of its franchise.

A review of UK railways is already taking place.

It is being led by Keith Williams, the former boss of British Airways, and its findings are due to be published soon.

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