Plans by Northern Trains to temporarily stop serving stations on the Manchester Piccadilly to Rose Hill line as part of a Covid-constrained September timetable uplift have now been modified after a strong local campaign by rail users and MPs.
Northern, in consultation with the Rail North Partnership, has now agreed to run limited morning and afternoon services on the line to provide trains for school-users and commuters.
Northern is the largest regional rail operator in the country, and from Monday plans to have close to 80% of its normal services operating, but operators are still facing issues across the North with the challenge of driver training in a Covid-19 environment. They report this is continuing to impact on the services they can offer.
Responding to the announcement by the transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris yesterday that some Northern Trains services will now still serve stations on the Manchester to Rose Hill line, despite the initial plans to withdraw them, Transport for the North’s Strategic Rail Director, David Hoggarth said: “We understand that the background to the original decision by Northern is complex, and reflects the extreme stresses now being placed on the operator while trying to maintain a reliable railway service under severe constraints during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“However, we made our concerns clear about the proposed withdrawal of this service even if the decision was taken as part of an emergency timetable and as part of the coronavirus response.
“This is a step forward, but we expect the full normal timetable to be restored as soon as possible and will continue to push for service restoration to commence at the earliest feasible date whilst still delivering a reliable service. We will be monitoring Northern’s progress very closely.”