Northern Rail Executive Acknowledges “Unacceptable” Service Performance

Northern’s chief operating officer, Matt Rice, stated that the company’s rail services originating from Southport in Merseyside were “unacceptable” and ranked among “the worst performing in the country.” Mr. Rice further noted that Northern had “under-delivered” to passengers throughout the Liverpool City Region (LCR), with approximately 20 daily services being cancelled. During his update to the LCR transport committee, he described the volume of train cancellations over the past year as “really chronic.” The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that Mr. Rice emphasized Northern’s ongoing reliance on “antiquated technology” as “symbolic of a railway service that needs to change.” Northern’s own data indicates that 74% of its trains within the LCR arrive within three minutes of their scheduled time. Mr. Rice remarked that this performance was “a long way away” from Merseyrail, which he presented as a model operator Northern should aim to match. He stated: “We will put more senior leadership and capability around local management and local areas like Liverpool so that the crew here are better supported, better looked after, and the delivery will flow.” He continued, “It’s absolutely vital if we’re going to get a better performing railway.” Mr. Rice also acknowledged: “Our (class) 769s that come out of Southport are some of the worst-performing rolling stock in the country. I’m really sorry for that.” He explained the situation: “By trying to be innovative and putting together a multi-modal unit, we’ve got to a position where they just don’t work well enough.” He added, “The companies that we work with to provide that rolling stock are absolutely committed to the point where, as a private sector operator, they are putting their hands in their pocket and trying to help us do better with that rolling stock. If it doesn’t improve, we will have to do something about it. We cannot continue to promise to do something that fails too often.” Councillor Simon Mountney described Northern as a “basket case,” stating: “I find it a little frustrating that you can’t show us improvement until 2027/ 2028. That’s a long time for people to wait, they’re fed up.” In reply, Mr. Rice conceded: “You can’t wait to get better, and we let people down too often.” Northern, which underwent nationalisation in 2020, has been attempting to improve its substandard service for several years. In July, the Department for Transport (DfT) issued a “breach notice” to the government-owned company due to an excessive number of train cancellations. Subsequently, in September, politicians and representatives from Transport for the North (TfN) questioned the company regarding its strategies to enhance its poor performance.