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Business leaders have warned that rail services across the north of England could “collapse into utter chaos” unless the government urgently calls for a solution to the months-long disruption.
Rail services are already experiencing historic levels of cancellations and the imminent introduction of a new timetable could lead to a “crisis”, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP), which represents industry in the north of England, warned in a letter to Britain’s Transport Secretary, Mark Harper.
The call for urgent government intervention in private rail services has been led by NPP vice-chairmen former Siemens UK chief executive Jürgen Maier and Jim O’Neill, former chief economist at investment bank Goldman Sachs, who is among possible bidders for Manchester United football club. The lobby group is chaired by former chancellor George Osborne to push for economic development in the north of England.
Mayer said the outage had cost travelers and businesses dearly in lost time and business, with corporate events and related businesses such as hotels and restaurants particularly affected.
“We’re saying: Government, you really need to put the pressure on and make sure you get this problem sorted and business back up and running before we have a miserable Christmas,” Mayer told BBC radio on Monday.
The rail companies’ current reliance on overtime employees to run services is simply not sustainable, he said. “The whole schedule will fall to pieces and there will be even more cancellations and people will not be able to rely on these important services.”
“We are not able to continue as we are.” If we do not get approval for the working day agreement to be negotiated this week, it will be too late.”
The percentage of canceled services in the UK has more than doubled since 2015, rising to one in 26 of all train journeys disrupted in the year to October 15, according to an analysis this month by the Observer of figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) . Services have also been disrupted by a wave of strikes, with more due to take place over Christmas unless unions reach an agreement with the government.
The NPP said there were already more cancellations across the north of England on the TransPennine Express than since the crisis in May 2018, when the introduction of a new timetable saw thousands of trains canceled during weeks of disruption. That has raised concerns of an even worse impact this time, when a new timetable with increased services arrives on December 11.
“When the new schedule comes in, as soon as they try to deliver it in full, the system will collapse into utter chaos,” the vice president said in a statement.
The NPP singled out services run by Transpennine Express and Avanti West Coast Mainline, both of which are majority-owned by First Group, an £800m company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Avanti disruption meant services between London and Manchester only run once an hour compared to the usual three times an hour. The first group has been approached for comment.
In a statement to the BBC, which first reported the NPP’s letter, Transpennine said: “We are sorry to everyone who has been affected by this ongoing disruption. This has been caused by high levels of crew sickness, an intensive crew training program (which includes a training backlog as a direct result of Covid) and infrastructure issues beyond our control.”
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