North East rail route extension already hit by raft of cancellations

A number of pre-planned temporary cancellations were put in place by the operator at the start of the new full-hourly service, linking Saltburn with the likes of York and Leeds and Manchester Airport, which began last Sunday.

Previously only the first and last service of the day to Redcar from Manchester Airport was being extended through to Saltburn.

TransPennine confirmed that the following timetabled trains had been already removed while it grapples with staffing issues concerning the availability of train crews.

        05:00 Manchester Victoria – Saltburn

        08:45 Saltburn – Manchester Airport

        12:44 Manchester Airport – Saltburn

        16:44 Manchester Airport – Saltburn (will terminate at York at 1836)

        16:51 Saltburn – Manchester Airport

        20:51 Saltburn – York.

Mr Houchen, who campaigned for an extension of the route, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he hoped the issues at play would only be short-term and the “medium and long term [was] bright for better connectivity for local people”.

On Wednesday rail bosses were grilled by MPs on the Commons Transport Select Committee over the poor performance of the railways, particularly in the North, which has seen a huge number of short notice cancellations across the network in recent months.

TransPennine Express, which is an offshoot of transport company First, was described as “neither going across the Pennines” or being “express”.

Its managing director Matthew Golton claimed performance levels had been at a record high before the coronavirus pandemic, but the company emerged from it with a huge backlog of driver training.

Another hurdle has been the failure to restore a rest day working agreement with employees – where staff agree to work on their days off when required – which expired last year and has not been renewed successfully since.

Mr Golton admitted the operator had “let customers and communities down”.

He said: “What we have got to do…is get this timetable performing more reliably and make a significant inroad into the number of cancellations.”

Asked to comment on the disruption affecting the Saltburn route, Conservative Mr Houchen said: “I’m very pleased that the new timetable has extended more services to Saltburn after years of tireless effort to secure the route for the people of Saltburn and East Cleveland.  

“It gives people better access for direct travel to York, Leeds and Manchester – and I’m pleased TransPennine has committed to the change. 

“We’re pushing on with crucial upgrades to all of our stations across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool to give people the rail network they deserve and need.

“It’s frustrating that weather and political disruption has led to cancellations and disruptions just as the service is being introduced, but these are short term issues and the medium and long term are bright for better connectivity for local people.”

Recently, a number of Northern ‘metro’ mayors held talks with Transport Secretary Mark Harper and called on him to “step in and clean up this mess”.

The Labour mayors said in a joint statement that 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”.

Mr Harper said he was under no illusions that there was a “real problem” to solve, particularly with industrial relations between employers and unions seemingly at an all-time low.

A spokesman for TransPennine Express said the new timetable brought with it a number of enhancements with routes also being extended elsewhere.

He said: “The work to prepare for these changes has involved a huge amount of training over the past year, significantly greater than for any other train operator in our region. 

“Alongside this, a further significant training programme has been necessary to allow our train crew to work on the diversionary routes needed to support the delivery of TransPennine route upgrade works during 2023.

“To help deliver resilience and to allow training to take place alongside the running of passenger services, we have worked hard to recruit more train crew to the business and currently have 507 active drivers – more than TPE has ever had. 

“However, we continue to experience train crew availability issues as a result of continued high levels of sickness – which has seen a significant spike in recent days – and the unprecedented training backlog.

“As a result of these factors, the delivery of the timetable will be challenging from the outset and customers may experience disruption to their journeys. 

“We have removed some services temporarily at the start of the timetable to help provide greater stability whilst we work through some of the issues outlined.

“Where cancellations and amendments are necessary, we will ensure these are communicated quickly and clearly.”

‘Even staff are flummoxed’

A Teesside train traveller who frequently makes trips across the Pennines said some days could be “carnage”.

The man told the LDRS that while things could appear relatively serene to begin with on his journeys westward, it was all too unusual to see passengers standing shoulder-to-shoulder on platforms and then cramming onto services once certain stops were reached.

He said: “It’s the bigger stations where the congestion is at its worst, the likes of York and Leeds.

“It can be carnage and you’re left thanking your lucky stars you already have a seat.

“The problem is that the demand is still there (for rail travel), more than ever perhaps, but there aren’t always enough trains operating to meet it.

“And when you get a cancellation, obviously those people then go and catch the next scheduled service which can be busy already from the people booked on it.

“Some weeks ago I was travelling back on a – delayed – train from Manchester and we’d reached York when without warning we were told to transfer to another TransPennine service on the next platform and given about a minute’s notice to do so.

“There was a poor woman in my section who had been asleep and then had to lug two massive cases across to the other train, ensuring she didn’t miss it.

“I spoke to the conductor and asked him what the issue was and he said he didn’t know.

“Even the staff are flummoxed at times.

“The shame for TransPennine is that they have actually invested heavily in modern trains which are fast, on the whole reliable, and spacious.

“But at the moment there just aren’t enough of them being regularly timetabled.”