The UK’s transport secretary has raised concerns about CrossCountry, a rail operator, and has threatened to take action if they don’t improve their service. Following the company’s request to temporarily reduce services, transport secretary Louise Haigh, in a letter to the company on Friday, reluctantly approved the request but was scathing about the level of service provided to passengers, which Ms Haigh described as substandard, adding that customers had been “suffering for too long.” CrossCountry claims the timetable changes are required to address a backlog of training that drivers require, and this has been exacerbated by recent industrial action.
CrossCountry issued a statement acknowledging its poor service and apology for the inconvenience that the new timetable will have caused. The operator believes the new timetable will lead to a more reliable service. The company announced the timetable adjustment to run for three months from August to November on 10 July.
Ms Haigh said the temporary reduction in services was unacceptable, and measures needed to be taken to improve the level of service. CrossCountry has been put on a remedial plan to ensure the company works on improving its service. Louise Haigh warned the company that if they continue to fail to deliver, she would take further action.
The company’s statement admitted that the service received by passengers was below standard, leading to inconvenienced customers due to cancellations on the day and poor quality and reliability of service. The company apologised for any inconvenience and hoped the redeployed trains would ensure that 97% of the usual daily number of seats would continue to operate. The statement also said more drivers would be fully trained by the end of the new timetable’s operation.
CrossCountry has services that connect most of the UK’s largest cities, including Cardiff, Bristol, Newcastle, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Nottingham, London, and Manchester. The government’s Labour Party has promised to renationalise nearly all passenger rail services as existing private contracts expire. A bill to nationalise passenger railway services was introduced during the first month of government
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