Sign the petition: Join our call for action over rail chaos

Today we issue a rallying cry to the North - join us to demand what government promised us.
Enough is enough: passengers deserve better than the rail service they are gettingEnough is enough: passengers deserve better than the rail service they are getting
Enough is enough: passengers deserve better than the rail service they are getting

We are joining news titles across the region and starting a petition calling on ministers to come good on their Northern Powerhouse pledges by ending the chaos on our rail services, signing off the upgrades they promised us and redressing decades of underfunding to the region.

SIGN THE PETITIONFour years ago this month, then-Chancellor George Osborne promised - when unveiling his vision for a Northern Powerhouse - to ‘join our northern cities together’ with faster, modern transport connections.

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Directly addressing the Northern franchise eventually agreed a year later, he said: “We’ll want to see not just better services, and more seats at peak times, but also better journeys.”

We agree.

So now that's what we want.

Instead of launching a lengthy inquiry that will not report back - with information the government should already know - until the end of the year, transport secretary Chris Grayling needs to end the chaos on our rail network NOW.

We need a fair, fit-for-purpose compensation scheme put in place within days.

And we need the rest of the Northern Powerhouse that government promised us too: the major transport projects we were pledged, but which are now languishing on Mr Grayling’s desk.

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Finally, we want fair funding - not more second-class services, while London eyes up its SECOND high-speed CrossRail link.

With one voice, we say to the Prime Minister: You promised us a Northern Powerhouse.

It’s time you delivered it.

Sign our petition here.