The train operator did not run a single service from the station on Sunday
Northern Rail has apologised after it was branded ‘incompetent’ for cancelling all trains between a Merseyside town and Manchester on Sunday. Services from Southport to Todmorden in West Yorkshire – which stop at Parbold, Burscough Bridge, Wigan Wallgate and Manchester Victoria – did not operate at all on Sunday.
The rail provider ran a number of rail replacement buses to Manchester and Wigan as its trains were not able to run. Merseyrail’s services between Southport and Liverpool Central were able to operate as normal, however.
Southport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley said Northern’s cancellations, which also affected the seaside town over the August bank holiday, means it is “suffering”.
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Mr Hurley told the ECHO: “We’ve all got used to a terrible railway service in recent years. Delayed trains, cancelled trains, overcrowded trains, trains that should have been taken out of service years ago.
“But in a very crowded field of terrible train operating companies, Northern’s impact on Southport takes some beating. Day in, day out, we’re subjected to the nonsense of people not being able to get to work on time or people turning up at stations only to find trains cancelled.”
The MP also stated he believes the train journey between Southport and Manchester takes too long at the best of times. He added: “Even when the train to Manchester is running and on time, it still takes 1 hour 13 minutes to go 37 miles. It’s just not a viable option for commuters or anyone hoping for a service remotely acceptable in the 2020s. At the weekend, we had yet more terrible service from Northern. Every single train from Southport to Manchester was cancelled.
“This isn’t the first time in recent weeks this has happened. It was the same on Bank Holiday Monday in August, meaning that any Mancunian day tripper to the seaside couldn’t get to Southport on the train. Our town is suffering because of Northern’s incompetence.”
In response to the cancellations, Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern in the North West, said: “We are sorry for customers affected by service cancellations, which are always a last resort and only applied when we have no other option.
“Traincrew availability remains an issue as we are carrying out essential training and colleague sickness remains high, this has been further compounded by not having a driver rest day working agreement. We are working hard to improve traincrew availability.”
The Merseyside-born Mayor for Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has also criticised Northern’s service recently. He called an urgent meeting of the Rail North Committee last week, saying he wants Northern to set out an ‘action plan to restore an acceptable level of reliability for passengers’.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News on Thursday, Mr Burnham said: “This level of service cannot continue. Northern’s performance is falling far short of what passengers in Greater Manchester and the wider north deserve.
“As we head into the busiest time of the year for our hospitality businesses and night time economy, we need more than a part-time rail service to support them. The current situation of repeated ‘do not travel’ warnings at the weekend just isn’t good enough.”
Northern, which runs trains in the north of England, was nationalised in March 2020, when its franchise was taken into public ownership through the government’s operator of last resort. The Arriva Rail North franchise was terminated by the Department for Transport, at which point then-Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said passengers had “lost trust in the north’s rail network”.
The Labour government intends to renationalise passenger rail services within this current parliament. Labour will establish Great British Railways, which will make nationalisation the default option rather than a response to services struggling. Great British Railways will take over passenger services once existing current contracts with private providers expire.
