TransPennine Express issues ‘essential only’ travel warning

TransPennine Express (TPE) customers have been urged to only travel for “essential journeys” due to disruption on key routes on Friday.

TPE said a reduced number of services would run between Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Hull, York and Scarborough.

Bosses apologised to customers and warned further short notice delays and on-the-day cancellations were possible.

The BBC has asked TPE to clarify the nature of the operational issues affecting services.

Anyone who needs to travel on Friday is advised to plan ahead, allow extra time for travel or use alternative transport, TPE said.

The affected routes include:

TPE interim managing director Chris Jackson said: “Unfortunately, operational issues mean we will be running a reduced number of services on Friday, 23 June.

“We know this is frustrating news for our customers, and we are sorry for the impact it will have on people’s plans. Customers are advised to only travel if absolutely essential.”

Drivers’ union Aslef had previously clashed with TPE over what it said was a “failure” to recruit enough drivers.

Today’s warning not to travel is highly unusual because it isn’t related to weather or an emergency, it seems to be a continuation of the main issue TPE has been facing for months – a lack of train drivers.

On one day in January 2023 nearly half of the 330 daily trains the company should operate did not run, leading to TPE being nationalised at the end of May.

The new management team warned that the service level was likely to deteriorate further before a gradual improvement.

An overtime ban by the Aslef train drivers’ union which prevented train drivers working on their days off has now been lifted.

That should make it easier for TransPennine to operate all its services.

But a larger-than-expected number of drivers left the company when it changed owners on 28 May, creating a fresh challenge for the government-owned company.

Additionally, this week has seen engineering work on the north TransPennine route as part of a major upgrade programme with no trains running between Leeds and Huddersfield.

Despite the end of the ban, drivers at 16 rail operators, including TPE, announced they would refuse to work on six days next month.

Aslef said its members would withdraw non-contractual overtime – known as rest day working – from Monday 3 July to Saturday 8 July as part of a dispute over pay.

The action coincides with the first week of the Wimbledon tennis tournament and will affect companies such as Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway LNER, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express.

Anyone making an essential journey with TPE on Friday is advised to check their train before they travel via the TPE website or using National Rail Enquiries.

Customers with tickets for Friday who choose not to travel can claim a full refund at their point of purchase or use their tickets up to and including Monday, 26 June.