Office of Rail and Road figures show that just 55.6 per cent of Northern trains arrived at stations within one minute of the timetable in the 12 months to the start of December AlamyThe transport secretary confirmed today that Britain’s biggest rail network will be stripped of its contract because of concerns over its “nightmare” performance. Grant Shapps said that Northern Rail’s existing franchise would be terminated after almost four years of complaints over delays and cancellations. Speaking today, he said that the contract, which is currently held by German-owned Arriva, would be “brought to an end”, adding that “frustrated commuters will not have to wait long”. The network, which operates across the north of England and parts of the Midlands, could be temporarily renationalised by installing a government-backed management team. However, the Department for Transport could also opt to dissolve the existing franchise and simply hand Arriva a new short-term contract under different terms in an attempt…

Source: The Times January 02, 2020 12:00 UTC