Today I have written to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to ask them to extend its inquiry into the adequacy of passenger information, during the summer’s disruption, to include TransPennine rail. Whilst I welcome the investigation into whether Northern Rail provided appropriate and accurate information after the introduction of the new May timetables, the level of services provided by TransPennine was also poor, so I would like to see the services from Manchester to Scarborough included in its investigation.
The decision was taken after the ORR’s timetable Inquiry last month identified concerns about information provided to passengers who use Northern, GTR’s Thameslink and Great Northern services. The investigation will look into whether the train operators breached their obligations to provide “appropriate, accurate and timely information to enable railway passengers and prospective passengers to plan and make their journeys with a reasonable degree of assurance, including when there is disruption.”
Over the summer my postbag has been full of letters from passengers complaining not just about the disruption but also about the very poor levels of communication available to them from TransPennine about delayed or cancelled trains often leaving them waiting on station platforms for long periods. 56 trains travelling from York to Scarborough in this period were terminated at Malton, compared to 6 in the previous year. If passengers had been warned, in advance, they could have chosen to wait at York, where there are good services, instead of finding themselves stranded at Malton where there are no facilities and no services for the disabled. It really was quite unacceptable This investigation will run alongside the review into the future of rail services announced by Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling recently and led by an independent chairman, Keith Williams, the former British Airways Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of John Lewis. The Government will publish a White Paper on the review's recommendations, with implementation of reforms planned to start from 2020. I am confident that the results of both inquiries will lead to much improved rail services in the North.
ORR will conclude its investigation by the end of November and if the company is found to be in breach of their licence obligations it could face financial penalties.