The rail operator TransPennine Express has been forced to apologise after cancelling around 55 services in one day.
The 50+ cancellations, first reported by Manchester Evening News, took place on Wednesday (19 October) and mostly affected journeys to and from Manchester Piccadilly station.
TransPennine Express said the service cuts were made “as a result of ongoing issues”. Another 10 services were amended on Wednesday, with different starting or finishing points.
One passenger, Aled Williams, dubbed the operator the “Non-Pennine Express,” posting a list of 41 advance cancellations announced by the company on Wednesday.
“Surely easier to list which trains are running,” wrote one irate customer, Andy Hargreaves, on Twitter after a fellow passenger posted a two-page list of cancellations. “You know, like a timetable. They’re a disgrace.”
In September, TPE announced an amended timetable similar to Avanti West Coast’s, saying it would “provide a more stable and reliable service following recent disruption caused by a range of issues including sustained high levels of sickness and a training backlog as a direct result of Covid”.
On Tuesday, Andy Burnham tagged TPE along with Northern and Avanti West Coast in a tweet about rail services in the north of England, saying: “Appreciate there’s a lot going on but the meltdown in train services across the North of England needs more attention.”
Manchester-based passenger Bobbi Hadgraft told the BBCthis week that TPE’s customer experience left a lot to be desired. “Even if the train doesn’t get cancelled, maybe the two or three before have and you can’t sit down because you’ve got three trains’ worth of people on one train,” she said.
“They don’t add carriages on to accommodate the extra passengers, sometimes they’re shorter than they’re supposed to be, and you can be stood up for an hour and a half.”
Ms Hadgraft, who works in Old Trafford, added: “Not only are you affected by the disruption by time, but it’s also the standard of the journey – you’re crammed like sardines in the train carriage.”
West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin took to Twitter to rail against the cancellations, posting a screenshot of four consecutive cancellations on Manchester services operated by TPE.
“How do we build our economy when companies are doing this?” she wrote, tagging Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
She told the BBC: “We’re fed up of being badly let down by a failing rail…
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