Transport secretary says North's railways have a real problem to solve

The transport secretary has admitted there is a "real problem" to solve on the railways in the North of England.

Speaking after a meeting with the mayors of West and South Yorkshire, Manchester, Liverpool and North of Tyne, Mark Harper said he was "focused" on trying to improve services.

His comments came after the Labour mayors demanded an end to the "chaos" on the region's rail network.

They said the disruption had had an impact on the Northern economy.

Passengers to, from and across the North have faced reduced timetables, crowded services, industrial action, last-minute cancellations and delays in recent months.

Much of the disruption has been caused by rail workers no longer volunteering to do shifts on their rest days amid an industrial relations crisis across the sector.

Mr Harper said he was "under no illusions that there's a real problem to solve here, which is why I'm focused on trying to deliver those better services for passengers".

He added that he "didn't have to be persuaded that there are some really important service delivery problems to solve".

He was challenged on whether he believed it was acceptable that a loophole meant services axed prior to 22:00 GMT the night before did not count towards official cancellation figures, and if this had impeded the government's understanding of the issue.

In response, he said he had "made it very clear that... we look at the data, but I also listen to the stories that I hear in the media and from members of Parliament on both sides".

The mayors had also said they would ask Mr Harper to do whatever he could to encourage the rail operators and trade unions to reach an agreement on rest day working.

He said the mayors had agreed that getting a rest day working agreement was "only really a short-term solution [and] a railway that depends... on people having to basically come in on their day off and good will isn't a long-term solution".

In a joint statement following the talks, the mayors said being able to get to work and college on time constituted "the absolute bare minimum of levelling up... but Northerners have been robbed of this basic right because of the chaos on our railways".

They said it had been "a positive meeting and we welcome the new transport secretary saying he will grip this crisis... but the time for warm words is over".

"We've had enough of broken promises - passengers are rightly demanding action now," they added.

"We made it clear to Mark Harper that he can and must step in and clean up this mess."

Speaking before the meeting, West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said as well as having a "devastating impact" on the North's economy, the rail disruption affected "attempts to rebuild from the pandemic" while communities were also dealing with the cost of living crisis.

In a later tweet, Ms Brabin announced she was stuck in Manchester due to TransPennine Express (TPE) only sending "half the train".

Although rail travel has been disrupted across the whole of the UK this year, companies operating rail services in northern England, including Avanti West Coast (AWC) and TPE, have come under particular scrutiny.

In October, Avanti West Coast apologised for "the enormous frustration and inconvenience caused" and said it was aware it was "not delivering the service our customers rightly expect".

Speaking in the Commons before Wednesday's meeting, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak criticised the "unacceptable deterioration" in AWC's service.

He added that a plan "to increase the number of trains" and restore the full direct service between Manchester and London needed "trade union co-operation".

On Tuesday, business leaders in the north of England warned rail services could "collapse into utter chaos" by January unless the government took action.

The Northern Powerhouse Partnership said cancellations had cut off the Humber region for "days at a time" and had reduced access to Manchester Airport, forcing people into their cars.

Earlier in the month, Chris Oglesby, the chief executive of property giant Bruntwood and chair of Manchester Business Sounding Board, wrote to the transport secretary to say that the current rail service in the North was "not simply completely unreliable, but also harming the economy".

He said one large firm cancelled all staff travel to the North-West and called off a conference because of concerns about the unreliability of the service between Manchester and London.

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