Northern Rail agrees to an action plan to resolve 'inadequate performance'
The company has met with transport bosses.
Transport bosses tell us they will be monitoring the performance of Northern Rail on a daily basis after forming a plan with the company to tackle current performance issues.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham wrote a letter to Transport to the North last week highlighting his concerns over travel disruption - now the operator has pledged to introduce a plan to restore services to acceptable levels of reliability "at the earliest opportunity".
Barry White, the Chief Executive of Transport for the North, said: “We are extremely disappointed and concerned with the inadequate performance of Northern. We have received a timetable recovery plan from Northern to address these concerns and improve the rail experience for passengers. Both Transport for the North and the Department for Transport, through the Rail North Partnership, will be monitoring progress against the plan on a daily basis.”
Northern’s Action Plan includes:
• improving driver rostering to get more trains running now.
• increasing driver training on new routes to get more services on line as quickly as possible.
• Additional contingency drivers and management presence at key locations in Manchester.
• Putting extra peak services in the timetable along the Bolton corridor, including between Buckshaw and Manchester Victoria, and Preston and Manchester Oxford Road
To make sure the plan is put into place, the Rail North Partnership will be focusing on the following:
• Calling on Northern to improve early communication of service disruptions to the public.
• Strengthening resources within The Rail North Partnership Team to ensure Northern’s Action Plan can be closely monitored throughout its implementation.
• Daily calls between the train companies and Network Rail to manage the operational elements of running the new timetable.
The commuter misery is likely to continue today though, as Northern Rail's members of the RMT Union walk out on another day of strike action.
It continues the dispute over driver only trains. RMT Union Rep Darren Ireland said: "Our members have taken 18 days of strike action and they're as determined as ever to protect the interests of passengers and safety. The employer must move away from its current stance by taking labour costs out of the railway - that's not the answer to having a safe railway."
65% of Northern Rail services will run between 7am and 7pm.