Northern boss admits service 'unacceptable'

Up to 20 trains are cancelled a day in the Liverpool City Region, according to Northern's own figures

Northern rail services in one part of Merseyside were among "the worst performing in the country", according to one of the firm's bosses.

Matt Rice, chief operating officer at Northern, said its services operating from Southport were "unacceptable".

He added the operator has "under-delivered" for passengers across the Liverpool City Region (LCR), with about 20 services a day cancelled.

Mr Rice was updating members of the LCR transport committee and said the number of trains cancelled over the last 12 months had been "really chronic".

Mr Rice highlighted how Northern's continued use of "antiquated technology" was "symbolic of a railway service that needs to change", the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

According to Northern’s figures, 74% of trains in the LCR arrive within three minutes of their scheduled time.

This was "a long way away" from Merseyrail, Mr Rice said, which he cited as an exemplar operator Northern should strive to emulate.

He added: "We will put more senior leadership and capability around local management and local areas like Liverpool so that the crew here are better supported, better looked after, and the delivery will flow.

"It’s absolutely vital if we’re going to get a better performing railway."

"Our (class) 769s that come out of Southport are some of the worst-performing rolling stock in the country. I’m really sorry for that.

"By trying to be innovative and putting together a multi-modal unit, we’ve got to a position where they just don’t work well enough.

“The companies that we work with to provide that rolling stock are absolutely committed to the point where, as a private sector operator, they are putting their hands in their pocket and trying to help us do better with that rolling stock.

"If it doesn’t improve, we will have to do something about it.

"We cannot continue to promise to do something that fails too often.

Councillor Simon Mountney likened Northern to a "basket case" adding: "I find it a little frustrating that you can’t show us improvement until 2027/ 2028.

"That’s a long time for people to wait, they’re fed up.”

Mr Rice responded: "You can’t wait to get better, and we let people down too often."

Northern which was nationalised in 2020 has been trying to turn around its poor service for a number of years.

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

In September, it was quizzed by politicians and members of Transport for the North (TfN) over plans to improve its poor performance.