Transport Secretary has 'frank conversation' with boss of TransPennine Express

The boss of a train operator which cancelled almost a quarter of services in the last month has been hauled in for a 'frank converstaion' with the Transport Secretary. TransPennine Express cancelled 1,781 services during the last four-week reporting period according to official data from the Office of Road and Rail.

That's almost a quarter of all their trains between 8 January and 4 February and 10% of all cancellations in England and Wales. And if the current rate continues 23,153 services will be cancelled by the FirstGroup-owned company this year, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority said.

Read more: The £340m plan for the M60 that could transform Simister Island

Today Transport Secretary Mark Harper met with TPE managing director Matthew Golton. The Department for Transport (DfT) is examining a recovery plan produced by TPE, whose current contract expires in May.

Mr Harper said: "The rail minister and I are looking very closely at the level of performance and we’ll have to make a decision about that in due course, but my guiding light will be about the services that get delivered for passengers. That's what my job is about.

"It's about focusing on the passenger and their experience, and that's a message we've delivered clearly to those that run TransPennine Express. The rail minister meets them weekly, and I've called in their managing director to have a frank conversation, so I hope that message has landed.”

West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin urged the Government to 'get a grip' of TPE, which runs services between major towns and cities in the North, including major towns and cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, York, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh and claimed it would be 'unthinkable' to hand the