Fewer trains will run between Manchester and Leeds from December as part of a plan to fix problems at TransPennine Express. A fleet of 13 trains will also be taken out of service as the now nationalised rail operator tackles a massive backlog in training for its drivers.
It comes five months after FirstGroup lost the TransPennine contract following complaints of poor service and cancelled trains. Since then, the number of cancellations has fallen by more than 40 per cent thanks to a deal with trade unions allowing drivers to work more.
But services are set to be scaled back in December when the number of trains between Manchester and Leeds will be cut from four an hour to three during off-peak times. In total, TransPennine will run 300 services a day, down from 320, across the whole network.
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Services to Liverpool will also be affected with some trains terminating at Manchester instead. The temporary timetable reduction, which is expected to be in place for no longer than a year, means that more drivers will be able to complete the training required.
Currently, only 64 per cent of drivers have all the training they need for all routes and trains run by TransPennine Express, leaving a backlog of 3,000 training days. As part of the plan to tackle the backlog, the Nova 3 train fleet introduced in 2019 will be taken out of service.
According to TransPennine Express, it takes four times longer to train drivers on this type of train than more conventional fleets. Cracks were also discovered on the carriages of three Nova 3 train sets earlier this year, meaning some are off the tracks already.
In total, there are 13 trains in the Nova 3 fleet, but TransPennine Express can only ever deploy six each day due to 'various operational restrictions'. But often over the last six months, the operator has only been able to get two of the Nova 3 train sets on the tracks.
The lease for the Nova 3 fleet trains expires in May, but a final decision on the future of the fleet is yet to be agreed. Nevertheless, TransPennine Express's new managing director Chris Jackson has confirmed that these trains will not be used at all in December.
Mr Jackson spoke to the media ahead of publishing a new report which sets out how the operator plans to address underlying issues. It sets out its three main challenges TransPennine Express faces, including 'restrictive terms and conditions' when deploying drivers.
Unlike other operators, it's understood that contracts restrict the ability of drivers being able to be allocated to other work within their working day. This lack of flexibility is understood to be a big factor behind the volume of cancellations, estimated at 5 per cent.
The operator's bosses hope unions will be willing to accept a new deal that would essentially buy out these terms and conditions so drivers could be deployed more flexibly when needed. TransPennine Express is also hoping that Northern - which is nationalised under the government's Operator of Last Resort as well - will take on the Leeds to Huddersfield local stopping service later down the line.
Mr Jackson said that TransPennine Express have already improved since May when it was brought under government control. He said: "I think that has allowed us to come in with a totally fresh pair of eyes, assess this operation, undertake a deep dive, listen to our staff and ultimately develop a plan that incorporates all of that feedback into something that we know, confidently, will fix this business in the long-term. There was no point in continuing blindly following a path that would lead to no tangible improvements for customers.
"So yes, while I accept that it is a small step back in the timetable, I'm confident that this short term impact will fix us and allow us to bounce back even more strongly in the long term. I'm really confident about that with our plan."
