Metro mayors have called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Transport Secretary Mark Harper to treat the “chaos” in rail services across the north of England as an emergency and to “haul operators to the table to sort out this mess”.
The Government has been accused of “rewarding failure” after renewing the contract for Avanti West Coast, despite admitting its services are “not good enough”.
The Government is making preparations to intervene if Avanti fails to deliver “significant” improvements on the West Coast Main Line, according to the rail minister.
