TransPennine: More than 50 trains axed in single day

Services have been cancelled due to "ongoing issues"

Rail passengers are facing severe disruption after TransPennine Express axed more than 50 of its services in a single day.

The rail operator has cancelled services along routes between Manchester, Sheffield, York, Hull, Huddersfield and Edinburgh.

It comes after mayors in the north of England criticised rail "chaos" across the region.

Links between Liverpool and Newcastle have also been cancelled.

TransPennine said further short-notice cancellations and amendments to services were possible throughout the day but gave little explanation, referring to "ongoing issues".

Services between York and Newcastle as well as Leeds and Huddersfield and Hull have also been cancelled while seven services have been amended.

Kai Connell, who lives in Manchester but works in Scunthorpe, was among those hit by the cancellations.

It meant he had to get a train to Sheffield, then to Doncaster before having a half-an-hour wait for a replacement minibus, which he described as overcrowded.

He said the situation was "chaotic, dismal, frustrating".

"I started half an hour earlier than I wanted to and got here half an hour later than I wanted to," he said.

"It's scandalous how poor the level of services have been consistently for the past 12 months."

The cancellations hit passengers across various cities

A TransPennine spokesman said: "We are sorry for any disruption that this may cause to journeys in the coming days and ask you to allow additional time for travel and to check carefully - up to the last minute - for any changes to train times."

The mayors said the government should treat the rail problems as an emergency.

The Labour mayors of West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Manchester, Liverpool and North Tyneside made the call after meeting to discuss weeks of disruption.

They called on the prime minister and transport secretary to "haul operators to the table to sort out this mess".

'Completely inexcusable'

Meanwhile, Cleethorpes MP, Martin Vickers, and Grimsby MP Lia Nici have also written to the transport secretary asking him to consider withdrawing TPE's contract.

Lord McLoughlin, chairman of Transport for the North, has called on the government to urgently intervene.

He said it was "completely inexcusable" that communities in the north of England were experiencing "such a dire level of service".

The Department for Transport said it had written to the mayors to arrange a meeting with the transport secretary.

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