brompton rail
Member
Cross Country trains fail on a daily basis to run the full complement of services. The Newcastle - York - Doncaster - Sheffield - Birmingham - Leamington - Oxford Reading service being probably their worst.
Services either don’t run throughout or are cancelled partway, often at Birmingham. Nearly all are only 4 car (the occasional 5 car). For example the first Newcastle Reading service hasn’t run regularly over Christmas Yesterday, New Year’s Eve, only 2 services ran through Doncaster in the morning, southbound and no northbound services all day. Indeed the only regular service is the 1727 Plymouth to Leeds which very rarely misses.
Why were XC granted a further licence without a requirement for more trains, increased reliability and improved services? Why no competition to find a better operator, or even operator of last resort?
Services either don’t run throughout or are cancelled partway, often at Birmingham. Nearly all are only 4 car (the occasional 5 car). For example the first Newcastle Reading service hasn’t run regularly over Christmas Yesterday, New Year’s Eve, only 2 services ran through Doncaster in the morning, southbound and no northbound services all day. Indeed the only regular service is the 1727 Plymouth to Leeds which very rarely misses.
Why were XC granted a further licence without a requirement for more trains, increased reliability and improved services? Why no competition to find a better operator, or even operator of last resort?