Jo Johnson visits northern staff and passenger groups in Manchester

In discussions at the Mayor’s Office in Manchester, the Rail Minister welcomed the improvements at Northern over the last 2 days, but made clear that all efforts must continue to focus on reducing disruption and ensuring passengers are fairly compensated.

The minister also met with passenger and staff representatives to hear about their experiences and to thank them for their patience and hardwork in resolving the ongoing issues.

Rail Minister Jo Johnson said:

Northern passengers have experienced totally unacceptable levels of service recently and it is my priority that we put this right as quickly as possible and passengers are properly compensated.

This has been a difficult period for Northern’s staff and its customers and I am grateful for the patience passengers have demonstrated, while the staff work tirelessly to put the things right as quickly as possible.

The industry will set out full details on compensation for passengers soon.

The Rail Delivery Group today confirmed that, on Northern, 654 trains have run with 83% arriving as planned. 3% of trains have been cancelled or arrived significantly late. This compares to the first 2 weeks of the new timetables when 69% of trains arrived as planned and an average of 11% of trains were cancelled or significantly late.