The Anonymous Widower

Reaction In The North To Rail Franchise Awards

I have been browsing the local papers in the North, to see the area’s reaction to the award of the new Northern and TransPennine franchises.

This article in the Liverpool Echo is entitled 4,000 more seats in £1.2bn boost for North West trains, which seems a very positive headline. This is the first paragraph.

Nearly 4,000 more seats on Liverpool and Manchester services during the morning peak and a new, direct Liverpool to Glasgow service were among the promised benefits of a trains package announced today.

They use a lot of positive language and only have a slight worry about what it will mean for fares.

This extract from another article, may be a bit parochial, but it is proud of Liverpool’s involvement in formulating the winning bids.

Merseytravel – who were involved in drawing up the specifications for the bidders – said there was a commitment to four fast services an hour between Lime Street and Manchester and two per hour between Liverpool, Leeds and York, as well as more services to Preston.

There will also be an early Northern service from Lime Street to Manchester Airport (arriving no later than 4.45am), and daily services to Manchester Airport via both Newton-le-Willows and Warrington Central.

It is also positive and just as I found in the city, when they introduced the Class 319s electric to Manchester Victoria, Merseysiders seem to be looking forward to better services.

Coverage on the Manchester Evening News, like this article entitled Hundreds of new carriages promised as Arriva and FirstGroup win Greater Manchester rail franchises, seems to be more cynical and snipes at Arriva for other issues. It doesn’t have the practical tone of the Liverpool reporting.

For instance, the Liverpool reporting stresses the much better service to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle, but despite Manchester will get a doubling of Scottish services, it isn’t given the same prominence.

Across in Leeds, the Yorkshire Post has an article entitled December 10: New age of the train – or not? This said.

Unlike previous deals which did not foresee the untapped potential of this region’s railways, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has used this opportunity to insist that the new franchise-holders invest in new rolling stock to help ease overcrowding on rush-hour trains. Yet it remains to be seen whether these operators, and their partners, can deliver the “world class rail service” envisaged by Mr McLoughlin and which is so integral to the much-vaunted Northern Powerhouse which aims to improve connectivity between major cities.

It looks to me that the Yorkshire character is shining through.

So on this quick look Liverpool is more positive and Manchester and Leeds are a tad negative.

Could it be that of the three cities, Liverpool is very proud of its locally-managed franchise, Merseyrail and are those in the area bigger train users than people to the East?

I also suspect, that at present, Liverpool with the electric trains to Manchester, has benefited most from rail dvelopment in the last few years.

December 10, 2015 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Merseyrail, Northern Hub, TransPennine Express