North East rail passengers warned of more Christmas cancellations

People planning Christmas Eve trips are being told to complete journeys as early as lunchtime due to strikes.

Operators are warning passengers that the rail network will shut down early due to a walkout by thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail.

Thousands of services have been cancelled across the region at short notice in recent months. Much of the disruption has been caused by workers no longer volunteering to do paid shifts on their rest days, amid an industrial relations crisis across the sector.

TransPennine Express, Northern and Avanti West Coast have been identified as some of the services most affected in the north.

Everyone crammed on a @TPExpressTrains from NCL to Edinburgh as they’ve clearly overbooked the train and the announcer telling people if you want going to Edinburgh maybe you should go on a different day as there’ll be more people getting on and will have to “leave people behind” pic.twitter.com/UWYtO6LiPL

— Hannah (@HannahColley) December 10, 2022

Lord McLoughlin, who chairs Transport for the North, which advises the Government on the region’s transport needs, told a select committee that reliability is “the greatest problem the companies have to address”.

He continued: “There has been a total let-down with unreliable services, not being able to get tickets, not knowing whether services are going to run, and also getting that information out.”

Nick Donovan, managing director at Northern, told the committee that staff sickness and absence is responsible for around 70% of the operator’s cancellations caused by internal factors.

He said: “We’re working through that. I can’t give a precise forecast on when that will be dealt with.”

Read next: 

• 'Clapping on doorsteps is not enough': MPs respond to unprecedented nurse strikes
• Police crackdown on illegal bikers continues after summer of shocking behaviour
• Heartfelt tributes to four boys who died after tragic fall into icy lake

A joint letter by Labour mayors in the north, including North of Tyne’s Jamie Driscoll, say they are “deeply concerned” at the disruption. Repeated appeals to the Government to place TransPennine Express on notice have failed.

“The responsibility for this disruption sits firmly with a Government that has underinvested in our Northern rail system; and with operators who have mismanaged services for a decade,” the statement read.

“As the North’s Mayors, we do not have confidence that this disastrous situation for passengers and the northern economy will improve without firmer Government intervention.”