The TransPennine Express train service has got “worse rather than better” since transferring to the state-owned operator of last resort (OLR), according to the rail minister, Huw Merriman.
The government announced last month that the service, which covers trains across the north of England and into southern Scotland, would be run by the state after the expiration of a contract with the FirstGroup-owned private operator TransPennine Express on 28 May.
The operator failed to run more than a quarter of trains at the start of the year as passengers experienced disruption, cancellations and a decline in the extent and reliability of the service.
Its performance had improved since then but has dipped again, with more than 90 trains cancelled in a day at the start of June.
Merriman said it was “no reflection on that team” from OLR who had taken over, and who had previously stepped in to rescue the neighbouring Northern franchise. Most staff, bar the managing director, were transferred over, but scarce drivers with route knowledge who were not required to work their notice were lost.
Speaking to the Commons transport select committee, the minister said the decision to bring in OLR was taken because he did not believe FirstGroup’s operator could work with the train drivers’ union Aslef to restore services.
While the service, which is still branded TransPennine Express, had started to show improvement, he said: “I took the view that the plan couldn’t be deliverable unless a rest day working agreement was in place.”
Merriman said: “Only 50% of drivers have full route knowledge … It takes 18 months to train a driver, and because they are all driving rather than training up others, we were only going to be able to train all the drivers up if we got back to the position in December 2021 where we had an agreement that unions could work overtime.”
The new management team and Aslef have now agreed to restart rest day working, he said, although it will be delayed due to a week of industrial action in July as part of the national pay dispute.
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Merriman said: “I’ve got great faith in their ability to turn this around, but we always said the issue was not necessarily with the management but with third parties … It appears Aslef have had a reset moment themselves and I welcome that and believe that will make things better.”
On the wider rail dispute, Merriman admitted that the government was “currently stuck” and said an offer to unions was “on the table”.
Earlier, speaking to LBC radio, the RMT leader, Mick Lynch, said they were not any closer to a resolution. Lynch said: “The government have locked down this dispute … It’s very likely there will be more strike action by the RMT. There’s no resolution at the moment, I’m afraid.”
Meanwhile, Merriman said proposals for a new station in Bradford would be announced next week, when the Department for Transport responds to select committee criticisms of its integrated rail plan. The plan, announced in 2021, outraged northern leaders by missing out the city in downgraded high-speed connections.
