Northern Trains quizzed over poor performance

Northern Trains is owned by the Department for Transport through a holding company

Northern Trains has been quizzed by politicians and members of Transport for the North (TfN) over plans to improve its poor performance.

In July, the government-owned company was issued a "breach notice" by the Department for Transport (DfT) for cancelling too many trains.

In a private meeting this week, Northern officials outlined key actions the firm would take to remedy its problems.

Northern chief operating officer Matt Rice told TfN he recognised that the underlying offering to passengers was "poor at the moment".

The breach notice does not come with a fine, but requires the firm to work on a remedial plan to fix the problem, the BBC understands.

'Not good enough'

Northern claimed the underlying reason for services being cancelled was train crew availability.

"The root causes of that are high levels of employee sickness and Sundays being contractually outside of the working week," a spokesperson said.

The TfN committee has now sought initial feedback about how Northern aimed to cut the number of cancellations afflicting the service.

Mr Rice said: "I recognise it's not good enough, the team recognises it's not good enough."

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham told this week's meeting a cancellation rate of 20% to 35% over the summer in his region was "nowhere near good enough" and that he believed it was even worse in parts of Cumbria and Lancashire.

A spokesman for Northern said the company is "now working closely with Transport for the North" to develop its plan further, although no details have been revealed.

The firm operates across the north of England, also running services in Yorkshire, Merseyside Teesside, Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, as well as into parts of the Midlands.