Northern metro mayors issue joint statement calling for end to rail misery

The elected metro mayors in the north of England have issued a joint statement following their recent meeting with Transport Secretary Mark Harper in Manchester.

The mayors have called for immediate government action to tackle continuing rail misery saying “the absolute bare minimum of levelling up means being able to get to work and college on time – but Northerners have been robbed of this basic right because of the chaos on our railways.”

The five metro mayors for Greater Manchster, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and North of Tyne met Mark Harper, the transport secretary, in offices near Manchester Piccadilly station. But Jamie Driscoll, the North of Tyne mayor, attended remotely because the trains from Newcastle to Manchester are so unreliable and Tracy Brabin, the West Yorkshire mayor, was delayed because her scheduled train from Leeds was cancelled.

The mayors’ joint statement reads:

“This was a positive meeting and we welcome the new Transport Secretary saying he will grip this crisis, which is causing misery for millions and damaging our regional economies.

But the time for warm words is over. We've had enough of broken promises – passengers are rightly demanding action now.

We made it clear to Mark Harper that he can and must step in and clean up this mess, which was made worse by his predecessors.

If thousands of trains were being cancelled in London and the South East, we know this would be dealt with as an emergency – and we expect that same level of urgency.

That means putting operators – such as Avanti, Transpennine Express and Northern – on notice to improve. The government mustn’t reward these appalling levels of service by signing-off on contract extensions when they come up for renewal.

We need the Department for Transport to set out a clear timetable for reform, with ambitious targets that would bring service in the North in line with the performance enjoyed in the South.

We have a new timetable coming in on 11 December 2022 so our challenge to the Transport Secretary is clear: he must get the network running properly, deliver the full timetable, and ensure the disastrous scenes we’ve witnessed over the summer and autumn aren’t repeated.

We will hold him to account on that for the nine million people across the North that we serve.”

Joint signatories:

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham

Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard

The North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll