Dump Northern Rail Now Says Lib Dem Candidate
Southport Lib Dem parliamentary candidate John Wright has joined former leader Tim Farron in calling for Northern Rail to be stripped of its franchise to run train services in the North West.
“We all know the last couple of weeks have been dreadful; but it goes back further than that”, said Mr Wright. “Services in and out of Southport have been unreliable for some time and, on top of that, we of course know that Northern Rail has absolutely no commitment to providing the sort of comprehensive, reliable services for Southport that commuters, students and visitors rely on. Their decision to reduce services to and from Manchester is a good example of their lack of commitment and failure to meet local needs”.
Cumbria MP Tim Farron has called in Parliament for Northern Rail to lose its franchise immediately, and be replaced either by Trans Pennine, or by services run directly by the Department of Transport.
“We need an immediate solution”, said John Wright. “Either another private operator should take over, or the service should be brought under direct government control” although, he added “anything run by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling seems doomed to fail. When he visited Southport in January, he promised improvements, along with local Conservative MP Damian Moore; that has come to nothing, of course, and the situation has just got worse. He too, like Northern Rail, has to go!”.
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