Passengers deserve better than Christmas cancellations

TRANSPORT for the North is continuing its calls for rail operator Northern to improve its service to passengers, as hundreds of trains are cancelled over Christmas week. David Hoggarth, Strategic Rail Director at Transport for the North, said:- "We are deeply concerned that, on top of ongoing poor performance and heavy disruption during the first week of the new timetable, Northern is having to cancel hundreds of services in the North West on Christmas Eve and Friday, 27 December 2019. It is totally unacceptable that passengers once again do not have a full service they can rely on, especially at this busy time of year. We have made our concerns clear to Northern and reiterated that passengers deserve better. We will continue to monitor performance over the Christmas break and expect to see comprehensive preparations in place to enable a return to a more reliable and robust service as people go back to work in January."

The North's leaders, as part of Transport for the North's Rail North Committee, are to meet in Leeds, on 8 January 2020, to discuss the issues and way forward, and have called for senior leaders from both operators to attend. They have previously recommended to the Secretary of State that an Operator of Last Resort for the Northern franchise would help restore public confidence.  We would love to hear from our readers on this topic, especially if the latest problems affected you.  Please email us to:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com with your thoughts on this matter.