Train services run by TransPennine Express will be nationalised after months of delays and cancellations.
UK Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced the decision to bring the operator’s services under Government control, but warned it is ‘not a silver bullet’.
Graham Sutherland, chief executive of TransPennine Express owner FirstGroup PLC, said the company has ‘worked extremely hard to improve services’.
But watchdog Transport Focus said passengers have ‘endured an unacceptable service for too long’ while West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin declared it was ‘absolutely right that this is the end of the line’ for what she described as a ‘failing railway operator’.
FirstGroup shares were down 4.1% at 118.30 pence early Thursday in London.
The Department for Transport said services will be brought under its Operator of Last Resort from May 28.
Passengers have suffered from widespread delays and cancellations over the past year.
The operator, which covers an area across northern England and into Scotland, has been badly affected by drivers who are members of the Aslef union no longer volunteering to work paid overtime shifts.
Latest figures show TransPennine Express cancelled the equivalent of one in six services across most of March.
Harper said: ‘In my time as Transport secretary, I have been clear that passenger experience must always come first.
‘After months of commuters and northern businesses bearing the brunt of continuous cancellations, I’ve made the decision to bring TransPennine Express into Operator of Last Resort.
‘This is not a silver bullet and will not instantaneously fix a number of challenges being faced, including Aslef’s actions which are preventing TransPennine Express from being able to run a full service.’
He added that the DfT has ‘played our part but Aslef now need to play theirs’ by calling off strikes and the ban on rest day working.
The DfT put the operator on a recovery plan in February after meeting local mayors to discuss a way forward.
The department said: ‘While some improvements have been made over the past few months, it has been decided that to achieve the performance levels passengers deserve, and that the northern economy needs, both the contract and the underlying relationships must be reset.’
It added: ‘The decision to bring TransPennine Express into the control of the Operator of Last Resort is temporary and it is the government’s full intention that it will return to the private sector.’
The Operator of Last Resort already runs London North Eastern Railway, Northern and Southeastern services.
FirstGroup noted that TransPennine Express contributed £415.8 million of the company’s total revenue of £4.59 billion in 2022. It contributed £13.2 million in adjusted operating profit last year and £8.9 million in attributable net income.
FirstGroup said it doesn’t expect any material costs from transferring the operation to the Operator of Last Resort.
‘The group is disappointed by the decision not to extend the National Rail Contract for TPE, given the investment and improvements we have made to the service over the years, which resulted in growing annual passenger numbers from 14 million in 2004 to more than 29 million before the pandemic,’ FirstGroup said.
By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent
source: PA
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