MP FOR Barnsley Central and Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis has branded the continued use of outdated trains as ‘not good enough’ as Northern Rail pushes back plans for a rail update to 2020.
“Yet again, rail passengers in the Sheffield City Region are being treated like second-class citizens,” said Dan.
“Northern Rail promised that Pacer trains, which should have been consigned to a transport museum long ago, would be out of service by the end of the year - but now we know that they will continue to run in South Yorkshire well into 2020.”
He said it was ‘yet more proof’ of a widening gulf between transport spend in the North and in the South-East.
“While commuters in London have Crossrail coming; here in the North people face travelling on what are essentially old buses on rails, at speeds that average 35mph.
“Northern Rail needs to accept that this simply isn’t good enough and commit, as a matter of urgency, to serious discussions as to how and when passengers can be compensated for this litany of failures.”
