A local authority boss's delayed meeting with senior rail executives to press for urgent improvements to train services to and from East Lancashire has finally arrived.
Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Cllr Phil Riley was due to meet top managers from Northern in January to discuss the non-running of services to the borough only for the summit to be cancelled.
Now he has managed to meet them to press for urgent improvements to train services across the borough.
Cllr Riley said there was a recognition the current level of performance was unacceptable, particularly at weekends when the number of cancellations produces what he branded 'a completely unreliable level of service'.
The train company executives shared their plans for the rest of 2025 promising to show a substantial improvement in performance.
The key issues they said were around resolving long-standing industrial relations disputes.
In addition, the Northern managers said efforts were being stepped up to increase training, including investing in state-of-the-art facilities that simulate genuine driving experiences.
Mr Harrop said a shortage of conductors has contributed to high cancellation rates which Northern is addressing by recruiting and training new ones.
He also highlighted plans to:
- enhance services, starting with the implementation of a seven-day service;
- speed up the training of new drivers with three new train-driving simulators;
- the discontinuation of the controversial practice of planned cancellations, or P coding, since the introduction of the new Sunday timetable in January and the development of a new 'Target Operating Model' aimed at creating a more reliable train service.
Cllr Riley, who also chairs Lancashire's new Combined County Authority’s Transport Board, said: “It was good to meet Northern senior management and to convey the ongoing concerns from local residents about the poor quality of service.
“Lots of plans were outlined and we will be meeting again, hopefully, when there have been measurable improvements.
“Blackburn with Darwen Council will remain in close contact with Northern and will continue pressing for the reliable, seven-day train service that local residents and businesses expect and deserve.”
A spokesperson for Northern said: “We are delivering our plan to improve performance and provide customers across the North of England with a reliable service.
“Addressing the underlying issue of conductor availability is our number one priority and we are working to secure a new agreement that will mean we are no longer reliant on them volunteering to work Sundays.
“We are also working to reduce sickness levels by helping staff return to work as well as introducing state-of-the-art simulators to accelerate our training programme and planning to make the largest ever investment in our fleet by introducing up to 450 new trains.”
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