Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Transpennine Express have cancelled up to 40 per cent of trains on some routes; what are the reasons for those reported cancellations; how long they estimate any cancellations to last; what discussions they have had with Transpennine Express about the cancellations; and what was the outcome of any such discussions.

The December timetable was designed to be transformative for customers travelling on its three new fleets of trains. The full December timetable included a new direct route from Liverpool to Glasgow, the extension of the service from Newcastle to Edinburgh and a new service from Middlesbrough to Redcar.

Due to the late delivery and technical issues with its new trains which impacted on driver training and availability of crews, customers of TransPennine Express (TPE) experienced an unacceptable increase in disruption. To provide a more stable service, TPE has introduced temporary timetable changes between Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh until the end of January to allow it to recover. The Rail North Partnership representing the DfT and Transport for the North continues to challenge TPE robustly and hold the operator to account on its contractual obligations. Only last week, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Transport called in executives from TPE and other industry bodies to reinforce this point. If appropriate, we will take action under the terms set out in the Franchise Agreement.