[from\nthe Yorkshire Post, Thursday 9th\nJanuary 2020]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cabinet Ministers Grant Shapps and Jake Berry says the imminent financial collapse of under-fire rail operator Northern represents \u201ca light at the end of the tunnel\u201d moment for beleaguered commuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They used a\njoint interview with The Yorkshire Post to put TransPennine Express \u2013 and other\nunder-performing rail firms \u2013 on notice to improve their performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And they\nused the watershed moment to criticise the performance-related bonuses awarded\nto senior rail executives across the industry when less than half of trains\noperating in the North are currently on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It comes\nafter the latest \u201cfinancial information\u201d received by Mr Shapps, the Transport\nSecretary, confirmed that the Arriva-owned Northern franchise \u201cwill only be\nable to continue for a number of months\u201d unless the Government intervenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He will now\ndecide by the end of the month whether to award a short-term franchise \u2013 the\nGovernment is waiting for a review into rail franchises to report \u2013 or to\nnationalise the service by setting up an Operator of Last Resort under DfT\ncontrol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got this moment of default which is big, but we\u2019ve now got this opportunity to come together and stop blaming each other, and actually deal with the problems,\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Mr Shapps told this newspaper before stressing that day-to-day services, and staff, will be unaffected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m as impatient as anyone to see this fixed and my actions today are part of that journey.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe important thing is this is a \u2018light at the end of tunnel\u2019 moment. I\u2019ve made clear since I became Transport Secretary, as a long suffering commuter myself, people should be able to turn up, the train should be there, they should be able to get home from work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve missed picking up my kids from school before because of this \u2013 hugely inefficient services and that has to change. I hope this sends a strong signal across the whole network.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Mr Berry, the Northern Powerhouse Minister, denied that Theresa May\u2019s government had been too slow to respond. Describing this announcement as \u201ca line in the concrete\u201d and a \u201cbig step\u201d, he added: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHaving a company in financial default, having services that more often than not turning up on time, is completely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
But Mr\nShapps accepted that Northern was not solely to blame for the current\ndifficulties \u2013 Network Rail upgrades delayed the introduction of new trains \u2013\nand warned that change \u201cwon\u2019t be overnight\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think the way the franchise contracts have been written is not up to the task. The system concentrates on financial default, which is the thing that has allowed us to get today. It should concentrate on service default,\u201d he admitted. \u201cIf you don\u2019t run trains on time, you don\u2019t run trains.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen stories of people having to give it up jobs because it was becoming impossible to reliably get to work on time reliably – their lives were being fundamentally changed. For me, and it goes beyond Northern, it is quality of service that matters.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Asking \u201chow\ncan it be right\u201d that rail executives are paid performance bonuses at this\ntime, he said TransPennine Express \u2013 owned by First Group \u2013 must improve its\nlonger-distance services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn TransPennine, I\u2019ve invited in \u2013 I think we can say it will be a \u2018no coffee\u2019 meeting \u2013 TransPennine, Network Rail and the train manufacturing companies to find out what the hell is going on.\u201d he added. \u201cWhat has happened with Northern will send a clear signal that we\u2019re not prepared to put up with it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.yorkshirepost.co.uk\/news\/politics\/northern-rail-collapse-will-mean-light-at-end-of-tunnel-for-commuters-here-say-cabinet-ministers-1-10193036<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[from the Yorkshire Post, Thursday 9th January 2020] Cabinet Ministers Grant Shapps and Jake Berry says the imminent financial collapse of under-fire rail operator Northern represents \u201ca light at the end of the tunnel\u201d moment for beleaguered commuters. They used … Continue reading