UK takes over TransPennine Express after months of disruption

The UK’s Department for Transport has notified rail operator FirstGroup Plc that it won’t renew or extend Transpennine Express’s contract at the end of the month, following months of delays and cancellations across the network.

The disruptions have resulted in a “considerable decline” in confidence for passengers who rely on the trains to get to work, visit family and friends, and go about their daily lives, the transport department said in a statement on Thursday.

“While some improvements have been made over the past few months, it has been decided that to achieve the performance levels passengers deserve and that the northern economy needs, both the contract and the underlying relationships must be reset,” the DfT said. The decision to bring the service into the control of the operator of last resort is temporary and it’s the DfT’s “full intention that it will return to the private sector,” it said.

Transpennine Express services connect major towns and cities across northern England and parts of Scotland. Run by FirstGroup, cancellations fell by about 40% following the introduction of a recovery plan in February, the company said in a separate statement. FirstGroup blamed the withdrawal of overtime arrangements and a backlog in driver training for the decline in services.

FirstGroup is “disappointed” by the decision not to extend the contract it has operated for almost 20 years but this won’t affect its other rail businesses, nor will it result in material costs for the company, it said.