Beverley and Holderness MP, , has met with Transport for
the North (TfN) and lobbied the Rail Minister in order to raise
the struggles currently being faced by Hull Trains at the highest
level.
Hull Trains has been forced to suspend its services since
30th March as a result of the huge decline in
passenger numbers. As an ‘Open Access Operator’, the company do
not receive income from Government contracts like franchised
train services, but instead bid for spaces on the UK’s rail
system and rely entirely on their revenue from ticket
sales.
While franchised services are being given additional
support by the Government, which has taken on all of their
revenue and cost risk, independent operators like Hull Trains are
struggling to cope with the sharp fall in income coupled with
ongoing costs such as maintenance and the lease for the new
Hitachi train fleet.
Graham met with TfN to encourage the body, which was formed
in 2018, to use its voice and influence to make as much noise as
possible about the importance of Hull Trains to East Riding and
the Humber.
The local MP commented, “I was pleased to hear that TfN
have already met with the Government on three separate occasions
to discuss the future of Hull Trains, and I know that the
Department for Transport has said that they are looking at what
can be done to offer support.
“I know from my own personal experience just how important
Hull Trains are for our area. They have defied expectations time
and again, and have just invested in a state-of-the-art fleet of
trains to offer a more comfortable and reliable journey. I always
use Hull Trains as a matter of choice whenever I have to journey
down to Westminster and back.
“Hull Trains have been able to make good use of the
Government’s Job Retention Scheme to all but eliminate their wage
costs, but I’ve been lobbying the Rail Minister to ask what more
can be done to ensure that connectivity in East Riding and the
Humber isn’t set back by more than 20 years.
“Without Hull Trains, we’d go back to having just one
return service to London a day; at 7am and 5pm. This would be
ridiculous for our area, and a huge step back.”
Current social distancing guidelines mean that Hull Trains
would lose the use of roughly one-third of their seats as
passenger demand slowly returns to normal, while it is estimated
that LNER – the franchised operator between Hull and London –
would also operate at two-thirds of their capacity due to staff
illness and public health measures.
Graham added, “I’ve made the case to both the Government
and TfN that some work needs to be done on modelling future
passenger numbers so that Hull Trains and LNER can at least be
given certainty on the services that will be required.
“Hopefully, there could even be scope for the two to work
in tandem: which would help meet the shortfall in capacity at the
same time as helping Hull Trains to get back on their
feet.”
ENDS
Notes to Editor
· Graham
met with Managing Director of Hull Trains, Louise Cheeseman, in
May for an update on their situation.
· He
has immediately met with Transport for the North and lobbied the
Rail Minister, , in recognition of the
importance of Hull Trains to the region’s connectivity.
· LNER
runs one return service to London from Hull Paragon Interchange:
one at 7am and another at 5:19pm.
· Graham
has also submitted a bid to the Department for Transport’s
Restoring Your Railway fund, which would provide money for a
feasibility study of the restoration of the Beverley-York rail
line if successful.
-
It is co-sponsored by MP, , and MP.
