The UK government has announced that TransPennine Express will be taken back into public ownership, with control due to be handed over to the Operator of Last Resort (OLR) from 28 March, when the current operator’s contract expires.
Transport secretary Mark Harper on Thursday (11 May) announced he will not renew or extend FirstGroup’s national rail contract to operate TransPennine Express after months of “significant disruption and regular cancellations” across the network, which covers Manchester and Liverpool in the North of England and runs to Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland.
The OLR, which is owned by the Department for Transport (DfT) and already manages the day-to-day running of London North Eastern Railway (LNER), will now run the service temporarily under its subsidiary TransPennine Trains Ltd. with no changes to tickets, timetables or planned services.
In recent months the network has been dogged by ongoing labour strikes and last-minute cancellations due to staff shortages. Last September, the operator was forced to cut services by nearly 25 per cent due to staffing issues.
TransPennine Express managing director Matthew Golton in a letter to stakeholders said the operator had faced “extremely difficult operating conditions for a prolonged period” and that it had been “working around the clock” to address the disruption faced by rail passengers.
“As a result of the work of our recovery plan, [we] have seen a steady reduction in the rate of both pre-planned and on the day cancellations,” he said.
The DfT said the temporary takeover “will not instantaneously fix a number of challenges being faced” but it hopes the move will provide “an opportunity to reset relationships between the operator, staff, trade unions and passengers”.
The department added that it is the government’s “full intention” to return management of the network to the private sector.
However, this isn’t the first time services between north west England and Scotland have been taken under government control. In 2020, the government took ownership of the Northern Rail franchise from then operator Arriva Rail North after the network failed to meet performance standards.