A screen displaying travel information for commuters in British Sign Language has gone live at Manchester's Piccadilly railway station.
30.03.2023 - 09:35 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The managing director of under-fire train operator TransPennine Express says he personally experiences the same frustrations other passengers do as he regularly commutes into Manchester from Huddersfield on the network.
Matthew Golton said of what he called TPE's 'recent delivery': "We know it's not been good enough. I have apologised for that and I will apologise again, because we have to get it right."
And Mr Golton, speaking in Manchester at a board meeting of Transport Focus, an independent watchdog for transport users, said long-suffering commuters were facing a 'doubling this year' in planned disruption due to the ongoing TransPennine Route Upgrade project.
READ MORE: New Avanti West Coast boss claims under-fire train operator has 'turned a corner' after controversy
TransPennine Express, together with Avanti West Coast, have faced vociferous calls for their contracts to be axed due to their performance, with Avanti being controversially awarded a six-month extension earlier this month. TPE's contract expires at the end of May and the Department for Transport is examining the details of a recovery plan the company submitted in January after ministers deemed its performance was unacceptable.
The Manchester Evening News revealed in February that TPE cancelled almost a quarter of all its trains in a month, including more than 1,000 the night before they were due to run. The company ranked the highest of all train operating companies in terms of cancellations by some distance in figures published by the rail regulator.
Pre-planned service cancellations, known as P-coded trains, are removed from systems by 10pm the evening before, but crucially do not count towards official performance figures - an industry loophole
A screen displaying travel information for commuters in British Sign Language has gone live at Manchester's Piccadilly railway station.
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Calls have been made to abolish the contact extension for TransPennine Express as service cancellations have 'failed passengers' in the north of England.
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"Decisive action" over TransPennine Express (TPE) has been called for by a group of Manchester business leaders as they voiced their "deep concern" over its "ongoing, unacceptable performance and the impact it is having on the region's economy".
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