Transport secretary has "serious concern" about CrossCountry
The rail operator has cut its services for three months, to train more drivers
Last updated 10th Aug 2024
The Transport Secretary at says she may take action against rail operator CrossCountry, in response to an ongoing reduction in services.
Bosses have reduced trains for three months, to clear a backlog in driver training.
Louise Haigh has written to bosses saying she had "little choice but to approve" the timetable change, but has "serious concern."
She said: "In response, I want to put on record my serious concern about the performance of CrossCountry services. Your passengers have been suffering from a substandard service for too long and I am determined to address this."
Ms Haigh added: "Given your inability to run a full timetable, and the need to provide clear information for passengers I had little choice but to approve this request.
"Put simply, the only reason I accepted your proposal was to give passengers more certainty on which services will run."
Ms Haigh said she had "required" the company to agree a remedial plan, which "formally contractualises" its proposals to improve services.
CrossCountry has set out plans to "reduce the backlog of driver training" among steps to boost reliability for passengers, according to the Transport Secretary.
"If you fail to deliver the Remedial Plan, I will not hesitate to take further action under the contract," she warned.
In a statement, Ms Haigh said: "There can be no excuse for this sort of dire service, and it will not be tolerated under this Government.
"I've written to CrossCountry to make clear that while I required them to deliver more services than their original plan, the reduced timetable is certainly not satisfactory, and it will undoubtedly affect passengers.
"CrossCountry is persistently one of the worst performing operators, I had little choice in approving this request. If they fail to deliver their plan to improve, I won't hesitate to take further action."
The company's contract was agreed by the previous Conservative Government, and runs from October last year to October 2031.
Journeys impacted between today (10th August) and 9th November include those between Scotland and south-west England via Birmingham, Newcastle and Reading, Manchester and Bristol, and Cardiff and Nottingham.
CrossCountry has been contacted for comment.
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