The Christmas Eve edition of Rail Magazine reported (page 24) that Transport Minister Claire Perry had said in a Commons Written Answer (to David Davis on 4th December) that the introduction of the new East Coast franchise will see a reduction in trains calling at Morpeth (also Doncaster, Alnmouth, Berwick and Dunbar). Ms Perry is reported to have said the reduction would be marginal – typically one train per day or less, in one direction only. This of course fails to recognise that Morpeth only has 2 northbound services per day from London (Mon – Thurs). A reduction of 1 would be a 50% loss; hardly “marginal”.
On behalf of SENRUG I contacted our MP and asked him to seek clarification, liaising closely with the Rail User Groups representing other affected stations who were doing the same. My particular concern was to understand if the service reduction reflected Stagecoach’s interpretation of the franchise specification or if the DfT had granted Stagecoach some kind of post franchise specification concession.
However, today I received an email from Stagecoach saying they do not intend to cut services at any of the mentioned stations. In fact Morpeth will gain one Sunday service from May 2016. (As from March 2015, the franchise will be run by Virgin Trains East Coast, 90% owned by the Stagecoach Group and 10% owned by The Virgin Group).
SENRUG very much welcomes the re-assurance from Stagecoach, and looks forward to developing a strong and constructive relationship with the new company. But the incident leaves me very puzzled as to why the Minister made such a statement in the first place. A quick internet search has revealed the Commons Written Answer was corrected on 7th January, removing references to service cuts at Morpeth and the other stations.
