Andy Burnham calls for first class to be scrapped on northern trains ‘when people can’t get a seat’

The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has called for first class on northern train services to be scrapped until the network is good enough to give passengers a ‘decent service’. 

According to the Manchester Evening News, the mayor said that until the north gets the expanded timetable it was promised back in 2014, he can’t see a justification for first class carriages when people still can’t get a seat while ‘paying ticket prices at the level that they are’. 

Speaking to northern leaders this morning, Burnham added that ongoing disruptions are a part of the ‘managed decline in the railways of northern England, with no end in sight’, noting it will include cuts to weekend services and standing room only on key lines for five to ten years.

RussellHarryLee / Flickr

Refusing to endorse the timetable until the government provided a firm infrastructure plan for the Castlefield corridor, Burnham said: “If we sign this off, we all know what the reality will be for at least five years, more like ten years, on rail services across the north, particularly between Manchester and Leeds.

“It will mean people unable to find a seat because we’ve got a reduced number of services. It will mean standing up all the way back to Manchester and that will just be the reality for people for years and years and years to come.

“Until we get back to the expanded timetable we were promised… trains should be declassified.

“I can’t see a justification for first class compartments when people can’t get a seat, when they are paying ticket prices at the level that they are.”

George Osborne had first promised expansions at Piccadilly Station via new platforms 15 and 16 and Oxford Road Station back in 2014 in order to relieve the Castlefield corridor. However, this expansion is yet to be signed off.

Instead, a new timetable ‘high-performing’ rail timetable aimed at cutting delays and ‘unclogging’ the Castlefield corridor was approved back in October, and is expected to come into force in December 2022. 

The consultation document reads: “Passengers have been experiencing poor performance to, from and through central Manchester for too long.

“The key objective of this work has been to find timetable-based solutions for making performance much better. Better performance in the Manchester area will have far reaching beneficial impacts across the north of England rail network.”