A YORK MP is demanding a meeting with bosses at a rail firm after she says it cancelled dozens of trains.

Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, hit out after she said Transpennine Express had announced 44 cancellations on Wednesday.

She added that Government delays in creating a single controlling body for the railways - Great British Railways - were seeing rail services "descend into chaos".

She said that rail failures were having a massive impact on passengers, as well as businesses and the local economy, young people getting to college or staff getting to work on time.

If people could not get to work this would impact on vital services such as the NHS, she claimed, adding that at the moment passengers "simply do not know when or if their train will run".

And when passengers do get to travel, they are often "sardined into overloaded coaches having to endure an uncomfortable journey", the MP said.

Ms Maskell said: “With rail chaos, each and every day, passengers do not know if they are coming or going.

"Rail journeys are often essential and people should be able to plan their day, knowing that their train will turn up on time. Sadly many passengers are walking with their feet and are now opting for the car.

“We were promised a new controlling mind for the railways, Great British Railways, centring the future of the rail industry, but Government have dithered and delayed over this, and it is still unclear exactly how they are going to take things forward. We are back to transport in the North being off the Government’s agenda.

“I am requesting an urgent meeting with Transpennine Express to understand why it cannot run an efficient and reliable service. Meanwhile, the Government must settle the outstanding rail dispute and ensure that those working on the railways, dedicated guards, station staff, cleaners and ticket office staff do not see their contracts torn up, their health and safety put at risk or their pay fall behind.

"It is high time the Government got a grip.”

A spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: “Prior to December 2021 TransPennine Express (TPE) had posted its best ever performance results, and was subsequently recognised as “Train Operator of the Year” at the Rail Business Awards.

“Since then, prolonged disruption affecting our services has been caused by a range of issues including ongoing high levels of train crew sickness, a persisting training backlog as a direct result of Covid, and infrastructure issues outside of TPE’s control. Combined, these factors have seen a number of on-the-day or ‘evening before’ cancellations being made.

“In normal circumstances, we have enough people to fully operate our scheduled timetable – and have more drivers now than ever before – however the combination of factors has put unprecedented pressure on our ability to effectively operate our services.

“Our customers want, and deserve, reliable and punctual train services, and we are sorry have not been able to consistently provide that due to the ongoing issues. TPE’s team continues to work flat-out to deliver higher levels of service delivery and to tackle the issues that are being experienced by customers.”

A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said: “We remain committed to pursuing rail reform and modernising the industry to ensure it’s sustainable for the future.”

The DfT added that legislation would be brought forward when the Parliamentary timetable allowed.