The Department for Transport has today announced that urgent plans to tackle the poor performance of Northern Rail services have been submitted to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and Rail Minister Jo Johnson.
Northern's timetable recovery plan will tackle the disruption to services following its timetable change as the government carries out the biggest modernisation of the rail network since Victorian time.
Rail Minister Jo Johnson is leading discussions with Transport for the North Chief Executive, Barry White. The Rail Minister has also spoken to Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham.
The Transport Secretary will be holding a teleconference with Northern leaders tomorrow to discuss the next steps. Officials are also working urgently with Transport for the North and Northern to improve train services for passengers.
The measures in the plan include:
- Improve driver rostering to get more trains running
- increase driver training on new routes to get more train services on the line as quickly as possible.
- Additional contingency drivers and management presence at key locations in Manchester
- More peak services in the timetable along the Bolton corridor. This includes Buckshaw to Manchester Victoria and Preston to Manchester Oxford Road
What did the officials say?
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said:
We are delivering the most comprehensive and significant modernisation of the national rail network since the Victorian era.
Introducing new services, providing passengers with faster journeys and delivering more seats will be part of this essential transformation – but the level of disruption that passengers have experienced in the north is unacceptable.
Improving the service for Northern customers is the number one performance priority for my department and we will work with the industry to keep disruption at a minimum.
Rail Minister Jo Johnson said:
Northern is running hundreds more services now compared to last week, helping deliver the biggest change to rail timetables in a generation.
But passengers have been disrupted and there is concern about performance among people who use the railway.
I have spoken with the chief executive of Transport for the North and the Mayor of Greater Manchester to underline our absolute commitment to improving performance for passengers.
We are working closely with train companies to drive down cancellations, and will support Network Rail and the wider industry in delivering these significant improvements.
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What about the electrification on the Manchester–Preston Line via Bolton. Has Chris Grayling forgotten about it already.