The state of rail travel in the region is simply not acceptable. While London celebrates the opening of the Bond Street station on the Elizabeth line, Yorkshire continues to be plighted by unreliable services.

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin has ordered TransPennine Express (TPE) to come up with an “immediate solution” as passengers are left exasperated by continued chaos.

The train operator has blamed the “prolonged disruption” on a range of issues, including a high level of staff sickness and training backlog caused by the pandemic. But TPE, which is owned by FirstGroup, is responsible for coming up with solutions to these problems.

The very fact that it has been cancelling services at short notice in recent weeks, with more than 50 announced last Wednesday, is not acceptable. Especially when it has been reducing service levels as a way of mitigating the issue.

A TransPennine Express train at a platform.

This company recorded an operating profit of £73m in the year ending March 2021 and said a significant drop in passenger numbers was “largely mitigated” by a £325m Government grant.

TPE says that in normal circumstances it has enough people to fully operate its scheduled timetable and that it has “more drivers now than ever before”. But it is clearly falling short of expectations and must shoulder the responsibility for building resilience during difficult circumstances.

We are at a stage where the railway network simply can’t be relied upon and this has a detrimental impact on the economy.

TPE must come up with a solution for this chaos as it can’t go on like this.

TransPennine Express needs to find a solution for rail chaos - The Yorkshire Post says