Leeds council chief hits out at train chaos as over 70 TransPennine services are cancelled

Tom Riordan, CEO of Leeds City Council, took to social media to criticise the “collapsing” service with “do not travel” rail warnings in place across the country despite there being no national strike action today.

He tweeted: “Is it a strike day ⁦@TPExpressTrains @transportgovuk? Or are we experiencing the complete collapse of a public service?”

It comes as TransPennine Express urged customers not to travel today due to a “significant rostering system issue”, which has led to a third of train services on key northern routes being cancelled.

Kathryn O’Brien, TPE’s customer service and operations director, said the “significant rostering system issue”, was resulting in “a high level of unplanned cancellations and disruption across our network”.

A TPE spokesperson clarified this was “a computer/software issue rather than a staffing problem” and that the firm anticipated cancelling “around a third of our timetabled services today”.

The key rail provider is now coming under increasing pressure with West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin, and her Greater Manchester counterpart, Andy Burnham, calling for the Government to take urgent action with over 70 services cancelled at short notice.

She said: “It is completely unacceptable that TransPennine Express have told passengers not to travel because they’ve cancelled so many of their services today. This is a problem entirely of the company’s own making.”

Mayors Brabin and Burnham have called on the Government to put TransPennine on formal notice to improve or risk being stripped of its contract, as happened in the autumn with Avanti West Coast.

Adding: “The Government needs to do this now and get an urgent grip. Today’s chaos piles more misery on passengers and will have a major impact on businesses and high streets across our region. In the week before Christmas, this is the last thing they need.”

Brabin then went a step further on Twitter accusing the provider of “ruining Xmas for West Yorkshire”.

The Guardian have reported that when P-coded cancellations are included alongside official statistics from the Office of Rail and Road, TPE’s cancellation rates are running at between 20 per cent and 32 per cent in recent weeks.