Train company 'to slash services'

Arriva admits asking to reduce the service

A train company is planning to slash services because of a shortage of drivers.

Passenger group Rail Future says it has obtained documents showing that Arriva Trains Northern wants to cut more than 1,000 services a week this winter.

And Arriva has admitted meeting officials from the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) to ask for permission to reduce the service.

It needs to secure the support of the SRA to avoid paying penalties for failing to provide the trains.

Arriva is training 120 new drivers this year

Train companies which fail to meet service thresholds detailed in the franchise may have to pay penalties depending on the number of delays and cancellations.

Last year Arriva made net payments of more than £9m to the SRA after failing to meet performance targets.

And the SRA, fed up with the cancellation passengers have already suffered for several months, is expected to announce later this week that Arriva will face further heavy fines unless services improve quickly.

But Arriva, which operates trains across north-east and north-west England, says despite an intensive driver-training programme, it cannot run all 1,600 trains a day pledged under the current franchise agreement.

Arriva took over the franchise in February 2000 and will carry on with the operation until 2003.

The company says that when it was handed control there was already a shortage of staff combined with other problems such as insufficient rolling stock and maintenance backlogs.

Drivers poached

To bring in more drivers, Arriva has launched what it describes as one of the largest recruitment campaigns ever seen in the industry.

It hopes to attract more than 120 drivers by the end of the year and bring in a further 170 in 2002.

However, each of the drivers need 18 months training before they can operate without supervision.

One of the problems is that some Arriva drivers have been poached by other companies.