Northern Rail is to be taken back into public ownership, the government confirmed today.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, stripped operator Arriva of the franchise and said passengers had ‘lost faith’ in the North’s rail network.
The service will now be run by a public company reporting directly to the government and run by experienced train managers.
A similar government-owned ‘operator of last resort’ took over the running of the East Coast Main Line from Virgin in 2018.
Northern has been operated by Deutsche Bahn-owned Arriva since 2016 and had a contract until 2025, but left customers fuming due to a catastrophic introduction of a new timetable in May 2018.
Just 56% of trains arrived on time over the past year.
Stalled infrastructure investment and disputes with rail workers’ unions added to its woes.
Northern Rail's franchise area includes Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield.
Arriva will run the trains during the handover period and blamed external factors that had made its plan for the network ‘undeliverable’.