POOR PERFORMANCE ON NORTHERN RAIL SERVICES

That this House notes the Public Accounts Committee report into Rail Franchising in the UK which recognised that Passengers on the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise have suffered an appalling level of delays and cancellations since the franchise started in 2014 and that the franchising model is broken; further notes that the problems which franchising has brought to Southern Rail services, including shortage of staff, over-reliance on rest day working and overtime, shortage of trained drivers and poor management planning resulting in frequent cancellations, are now also being replicated on Northern Rail services; is concerned that passengers across the North are now being left waiting at stations, not knowing when, or if, trains will run; is further concerned that plans to introduce driver-only operated trains will exacerbate those problems; and calls on the Government to launch an urgent inquiry into the crisis at Northern Rail and give consideration to stripping Arriva of the Northern franchise and placing the service in public ownership.