TSSA calls for TransPennine Express to remain in public hands

Rail union TSSA has welcomed the government’s decision to strip the failing TransPennine Express franchise of its contract and called for the service to be permanently nationalised. 

The move was announced earlier today by the Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, after an avalanche of complaints about poor services and cancellations going back many months. 

The Department for Transport said that TransPennine's contract would not be renewed on 28 May and the service - covering Manchester and Liverpool in the North of England through to Edinburgh and Glasgow – will be run by the government itself.  

Commenting, TSSA Organiser for TransPennine, Alan Valentine, said: “Just like many TransPennine trains this announcement has been a long time coming and will be welcomed both by passengers and our hard-working members.  

“For far too long the privateers at TransPennine have been short-changing commuters, and the serious problems on these services simply go to show that fragmented private railways are an abject failure.  

“For the good of all concerned TransPennine must remain in public hands for the long term, along with other train companies recently brought under government control - East Coast Mainline, Northern Rail and Southeastern. 

“If this Tory government really wants to build a British economy for the coming decades the first thing it should do is listen to passengers, business and our union all of whom want safe reliable rail services. The only way to do that is to run a rail network for the people, by the people.”  

*TPE runs train between the major cities and towns of Northern England and Scotland. The routes provide rail links to major towns and cities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Sheffield, Hull, Leeds, Newcastle and York.  

*TSSA members at TPE are found in a number of roles, including Revenue Protection Officers, Revenue Protection Assistants, Operations Development Managers, Driver Managers, Duty Managers, Duty Station Managers, a variety of other Management roles, Station Team Leaders, Customer Service Supervisors, Customer Service Advisors and Incident Controllers.