Train operator under fire over cancellations unveils plan to get commuters moving - on buses

Rail bosses at the north's biggest train operator have unveiled proposals to get the public moving in the run-up to Christmas - using buses.

Under fire Northern, which today admitted it 'amazingly' still uses fax machines to communicate with its staff and organise rotas, said it would be 'strengthening' its 'bus provision' after being summoned to a Rail North Committee meeting to explain high levels of recent cancellations.

One senior boss said Northern's job was to 'move' people - and if that couldn't be done by train, it would be done by bus, saying the operator would be 'amplifying' its 'bus provision' from next month.

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The operator, which runs trains across Greater Manchester and the north west, was renationalised in March, 2020, when it's franchise was taken into public ownership. As a consequence, it's now run by a business owned by the Department for Transport.

In its latest performance summary - covering a period from September 15 to October 12 - Northern said there were 1,162 'short notice' cancellations. There were 910 trains removed on Sundays in total.

Northern was issued with a 'breach notice' for unacceptable levels of performance in July. The 'contractual breach performance level' on cancellations by an operator is seven per cent of services. But in Northern's case, from April 28 to July 20, levels of cancellations topped 10 per cent.

The notice required Northern to develop a formal action plan, which was due to be presented to rail authorities this week. But after the meeting, the mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who chairs the committee, told Northern to 'go back and interrogate