Great to visit South Parkway Station to meet with Owain Roberts, Stakeholder Manager, to receive an update on their future plans to improve rolling stock and cut cancellation times on the local network. In the last couple of weeks Northern Rail have gone out to tender for a fleet of 450 new trains that should come into service by 2030, replacing older trains like the well-known Pacers that were phased out of service in 2021. We also discussed future improvement of access at West Allerton Station.

Recent extreme weather and it’s impact on infrastructure has seen cancellation rates rise to as high as 7%. The cancellation rate during better weather is under 2%. I will be visiting Northern Rail’s Allerton Depot soon to meet staff there and see first-hand the work that goes into providing and maintaining their rail services.