Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
The rail regulator has acknowledged that it lacked crucial information when it chose not to permit passengers on a peak-time train service operating between Manchester and London. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) conceded that key details were missing during its decision-making process, which would have otherwise resulted in a “ghost train” running empty on a daily basis for several months.
John Larkinson, the CEO of ORR, revealed that the organization was unaware the train would be fully staffed, that its departure point would be from Manchester Piccadilly rather than a depot, and that it needed to reach Euston to become the 09:30 GMT service heading to Glasgow. “The information that later became available to us meant that our assumption turned out to be incorrect,” Larkinson explained.
This situation follows considerable criticism in November regarding the ORR’s choice to allow the 07:00 train service to run but only with staff on board. The decision, set to start from mid-December, was swiftly overturned in response to widespread backlash, including from Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander. The ORR had initially defended the move by stating the service needed to operate without passengers to serve as a “firebreak”—a deliberate gap in the timetable designed to manage delays. However, in correspondence with Ruth Cadbury, chair of Parliament’s Transport Committee, Larkinson said the later-discovered facts meant the slot could no longer function effectively as a firebreak. He admitted that ORR staff had not reached out to Avanti for additional information that would have clarified these details, noting that if they had done so, the decision might have been different. Larkinson also pointed out that his team was handling 82 complex, overlapping applications for track access at the time.
Despite Avanti raising concerns in early November, their issues were not escalated properly within the ORR, according to Larkinson’s letter. He characterized the incident as “an unusual case, but nevertheless one we will learn from.” Taking full responsibility, Larkinson stated that the ORR is enhancing its procedures to incorporate the lessons learned from this episode. Responding to the letter, Ruth Cadbury, Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth, expressed that the public had found the ORR’s decision puzzling, especially as the train was fully crewed and popular. She welcomed the detailed explanation and acceptance of accountability, and affirmed that the Transport Committee would seek ways to prevent similar situations as the government moves forward with the creation of Great British Railways
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.