Amendments to TransPennine Express timetable from December 2018
As you will be aware, our services have been affected by a range of performance issues since the introduction of the May 2018 timetable which has affected the punctuality and reliability of our services on the North TransPennine route.
We wanted to take the opportunity to outline performance improvement changes we will be introducing to the timetable in December to provide greater resilience for services on this route. Since May, over 70% of delays to our services have been caused by factors outside the direct control of TransPennine Express. We have therefore worked with Network Rail and Northern to develop an industry plan to deliver improvements to train service performance.
With the agreement of Transport for the North and the Rail North Partnership, and following consultation with their local authority members, as part of the timetable change on 09 December 2018 we will make amendments to a small number of TransPennine Express services as follows:
- The current service that operates in each direction between Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds, calling at Stalybridge, Greenfield, Marsden, Huddersfield, Deighton, Mirfield, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury, Batley and Morley will from this date be operated by two separate trains as follows:
- Manchester Piccadilly to Huddersfield, calling at Stalybridge, Greenfield, Marsden and Slaithwaite
- Huddersfield to Leeds calling at Deighton, Mirfield, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury, Batley, Morley and Cottingley
- The current service that operates between Hull and Manchester Piccadilly will have two stops removed and will no longer call at Batley or Slaithwaite. These calls will now be made in the newly introduced Huddersfield to Leeds and Manchester to Huddersfield services respectively (as above)
- We will make changes to increase the turnaround time of Newcastle/Middlesbrough to Manchester Airport services at Manchester Airport. This does not alter the timetable for customers but will improve the reliability of these services
We are confident these changes will provide customers with a more resilient and reliable service.
These changes have also enabled us to make progress on responding to stakeholder requests for improved local station connectivity between Manchester and Huddersfield and Leeds and Huddersfield and to reduce the number of stations calls between Hull and Manchester.
There are no other structural changes being made to the timetable at December. Timetables (on-line, printed and published at stations) will be available in advance of the winter timetable change as per normal. We will circulate links to these timetables once available.
We will continue to closely monitor performance and assess the impact and effectiveness of these changes and consider, particularly in light of the performance of services in and around Manchester, whether further amendments will be required to improve train service performance.
We look forward to introducing these service changes on 09 December 2018.