Northern pins reliability hopes on new trains

Regional stakeholder manager Owain Roberts apologised for train cancellations

The reliability of rail operator Northern will improve when up to 450 new trains start to come into service at the end of the decade, bosses have claimed.

The company's regional stakeholder manager Owain Roberts, quizzed by BBC Radio Cumbria listeners on Wednesday, said he was "very, very sorry" passengers had experienced high numbers of cancellations over recent years.

Earlier this year, the publicly-owned operator invited manufacturers to begin negotiations for supplying new trains to run across the north of England.

Mr Roberts said the new trains would be a "game changer" but admitted: We still have a long way to go."

"That's no excuse or consolation for customers who's journeys are being disrupted," Mr Roberts said on BBC Radio Cumbria's Hotseat programme.

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

In July, the company was issued a "breach notice" by the Department for Transport for cancelling too many trains.

Performance figures for April showed about 64% of services ran on time.

In its latest improvement plan, Northern said that by 2027 it wanted 90% of its trains to be on time, with only 2% cancellations.

Mr Roberts said some routes, including the Cumbrian Coast Line, get "battered by the weather".

He said single track sections meant, even if there is just one cancellation, users could "potentially be waiting two hours for a train".

The company is working with Network Rail to improve infrastructure following recent issues, including on the Furness Line which has seen sinkholes, landslips and floods, Mr Roberts said.

Mental health support

The rail boss said 60% of Northern's fleet was between 32 and 40 years old and those carriages operated in various parts of the region, including on the Tyne Valley route.

"They are reaching the end of their lives," Mr Roberts said.

Tenders were submitted in January for a mix of electric and multi-modal (diesel/electric) powered trains to enter service in 2030.

"They will be fantastic when they arrive," Mr Roberts said.

He also told listeners that train crew availability was "less of an issue than at the end of last year".

He said Northern had worked to improve its "pipeline of training" and insisted it had "enough drivers within the business to operate the train plan".

It was also working on "suppressing sickness levels" by partnering with mental health support groups like Andy's Man Club to encourage people to "work through their issues and to promote good wellbeing".

He said mental health issues were affecting society and were "not just within railways".