Who owns northern rail

It will be taken back into public ownership on 1 March, transport secretary Grant Shapps announced. The botched timetable change of May , during which thousands of trains were cancelled, was largely blamed on Northern — which has struggled to recover ever since. Overambitious timetabling on this bottleneck makes delays inevitable. Nevertheless, I am determined that Northern passengers see real and tangible improvements across the network as soon as possible.

These included prolonged industrial action by the RMT, and delayed and cancelled infrastructure projects. More than half of delays on the entire UK rail network were down to problems with the infrastructure, like signalling. Government-owned firm Network Rail was put on a warning earlier this month for its poor service on routes in the North West and Midlands. OLR is a public company, staffed by experienced train managers, which reports directly to the government.

For many people who have faced repeated delays travelling on Northern trains, the news has been welcomed. Read more on how Northern passengers have reacted. Mr Shapps described the move as "a new beginning for Northern" but he sounded a note of caution for those expecting immediate dramatic improvements.

The much-maligned Pacer trains must still be replaced and Mr Shapps said new technology would be rolled out to identify overcrowding issues.

He also revealed plans to extend platforms at 30 stations on the Northern network to allow for longer trains. The new government-owned company will be asked to prepare a plan in the first days "to make sure we leave no stone unturned in improving this franchise for passengers".

This is an uncomfortable moment for the government. In the end, nationalising this vast commuter network was its only option. An agreement to change Arriva's contract and keep the firm on board wasn't possible because a commercially, and politically, palatable deal couldn't be found.

What the government wants on Northern is a new performance-related train contract, like existing ones for Merseyrail and the London Overground, which put less risk on the train company. As one rail boss described it, this type of system will be very similar to a nationalised railway, but private companies will still have a role to play.

Northern's failure is in large part down to ancient infrastructure which struggles to cope with the high volume of trains and passengers at peak times. Put simply, there is no silver bullet for improving our railways. Why you can trust Sky News. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player More on Rail. Related Topics: Rail.

Analysis: Northern loses its rail franchise - and it's about time. Related Topics Rail. Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram. For that, we wholeheartedly apologise. The decision means the Conservatives have nationalised two major rail franchises in less than two years, after taking over the east coast line in June , now run as LNER after the collapse of Virgin Trains East Coast.

Shapps last week said that the future of another, South West Railway, was in doubt, after the First Group-MTR joint-venture said it was running out of cash. This review must be published urgently. Passengers in Manchester had few good words to say for Northern but were mixed in their view of whether nationalisation would help.