THE government's decision to strip Northern Rail of its franchise has been welcomed by commuters and members of the public, but some have raised concerns over the likelihood of a long-term fix.

On Wednesday, the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that the Arriva-owned rail franchise would end, with a government-run operator in place on March 1.

Northern Rail commuters hailed the announcement as 'long overdue' and 'good news,' while others questioned whether problems would be solved.

The rail operator had been plagued with widespread delays across its network, service cancellations, problems with its rolling stock and overcrowding.

This evening, Alan Williams of Redcar said the people of Teesside needed a 'reliable' service if rail travel in the area was to recover.

He told The Northern Echo: "Over the last few months the amount of cancellations have been ridiculous, some weeks pages on social media have reported cancellations on a daily basis.

"It's not unusual to have 2 or more cancellations in one day.

"If Teesside is to recover people need a reliable service so they can get to work."

Software developer David Bond, who uses Northern Rail on a daily basis, said the current service was "not far off abysmal" as he described the loss of the franchise as "fantastic" adding that "it needed to happen."

He said: "It needs to happen. Privatisation of the rail was wrong to begin with.

"Scandinavian countries have one of the best rail networks in the world, it's state-owned, I just don't believe it was a good idea to begin with so that's great."

But not everyone is convinced that performance will improve with the introduction of government-owned 'Northern Trains Limited.'

Rail user Gary Richardson said: "The government terminating the franchise isn't going to solve the late running and cancelled trains.

"People expecting all the issues they are having to be solved will be in a for a shock.

"Lack of drivers, issues with new trains and over running engineering works have more to do with it than bad management."

Michael Ball, who said his Northern Rail service is rarely on time, said: "We've got a raw deal haven't we – it's all about London, we just get second rate service."

Meanwhile solicitor Claire Baker-Kemp added: "I think all we can do is wait and see what happens and see if it's an improvement on the current position."

Under the government-run franchise, Mr Shapps has promised customers will see "real and tangible" improvements across the network.