Northern and TransPennine Express need to "step up" as their "below par" services are causing misery for passengers travelling over the Christmas period.
That's the message from Transport for the North as both companies have announced long delays and hundred of cancellations on Christmas Eve, following
Today, Northern has blamed "unprecedented levels of sickness" for widespread disruption causing chaos in the north west and TransPennine Express has reported problems across the network caused by the introduction of new trains.
It comes after the start of a new winter timetable on December 16 resulted in for passengers travelling with both companies.
David Hoggarth, Transport for the North’s strategic rail director, said: “Already weary passengers are being tested to their limit and Christmas cheer is running short.
"The services from both operators have been way below par, with so many delays and cancellations.
"The impact of that is northerners being late for work, missing their children’s bedtime, spending hours to travel short distances and simply avoiding trains.
"Too often they are left standing on the platform with little or no idea of what is happening – a rough welcome home for Christmas."
'It is totally unacceptable that passengers'
He added: "We are deeply concerned that, on top of ongoing poor performance and heavy disruption during the first week of the new timetable, Northern is having to cancel hundreds of services in the North West on Christmas Eve and Friday 27 December.
“It is totally unacceptable that passengers once again do not have a full service they can rely on, especially at this busy time of year.
“We have made our concerns clear to Northern and reiterated that passengers deserve better.
"We will continue to monitor performance over the Christmas break and expect to see comprehensive preparations in place to enable a return to a more reliable and robust service as people go back to work in January.”
'I am truly sorry'
Leo Goodwin, managing director for TransPennine Express, has promised passengers that the company's performance will improve.
He said: "I am truly sorry for the continued disruption to journeys this week.
"I know what a busy time it is with everyone juggling work, visiting loved ones or trying to go out and enjoy the party season.
"As we bring in our new trains, it has had an associated impact upon our training schedule and our train maintenance plan which is having a big knock-on effect to our services.
"Our current performance is not acceptable and we are working hard to fix this.”
Northern has also issued a statement, in response to today's disruption.
It reads: "Alongside the annual leave entitlements at this time of the year, we currently have unprecedented levels of sickness. That means we expect there to be some pre-planned cancellations on certain lines.
"We are sorry for any disruption customers may face. Please check before you travel.
"We do not cancel services lightly and routes with cancelled services are chosen carefully to minimise the impact on customers.
"On each of the affected routes, our customers will have a range of alternative options available to them including other Northern services, trains run by other operators or rail replacement road transport.
"We are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause our customers. Please check immediately before you travel."
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