RAIL passengers in the Northallerton, Thirsk, Darlington and Teesside areas will be affected when Arriva temporarily cuts some train services and replaces them with buses from Monday.

The company said this week it had been forced to take action because of a shortage of drivers, but the move has been criticised by railway watchdog groups.

And yesterday the Strategic Rail Authority announced it plannned to fine Arriva Trains Northern £2m in respect of trains cancelled between May and August and September and October. It also intended ordering ATN to recruit and train enough drivers to honour its time-tabled services.

If the order is breached the firm will have to pay £5,000 per driver per calendar month below the agreed target. However, the authority has agreed to the temporary removal of 1,000 Arriva rail services per week from Monday to February 24. Substitute bus services must be advertised.

Arriva said steps being taken in the revised winter timetable were designed to reduce unexpected cancellations. The vast majority of trains would continue to run as normal.

Main changes to the Transpennine Express timetable will affect overnight trains to and from Manchester airport, services between York and Middlesbrough calling at Thirsk, Northallerton, Eaglescliffe and Yarm, and a small number of early morning and evening trains for part of their journey. Some trains will not run and others will be replaced by buses on part of the route.

The 06.18 weekday train from Leeds to Sunderland will only run to York. Customers travelling to Darlington and beyond should catch a connecting service and a bus will run for passengers travelling to and from Thirsk and Northallerton.

The Saturday 19.30 Sunderland to Leeds service is cancelled.

Miss Anne McIntosh, MP for the Vale of York, has written to Mr Euan Cameron, managing director of Arriva Trains Northern, about the threat to the 07.26 service from Northallerton to Newcastle, used by commuters for work journeys.

Arriva said the driver shortage was inherited when the company took over services from Northern Spirit last year. Since the start of this year it had recruited 158 drivers, who would take about 12 months to train, and a further 170 would join in the next year.

l See leading article, page 20