Government’s report on future of rail franchises must not be a whitewash - MP

Commenting on today's report from the Office for Rail and Road that found that a lack of accountability led to this summer's rail chaos, South Lakes MP Tim Farron said:

"This confirms what local people who endured a summer of misery on the railways already knew - no-one in the rail industry was prepared to take responsibility, leaving passengers high and dry at the end of the line.

"I welcome today's announcement from the Government that they will be producing a report to look into the future of rail franchises - but it must not be a whitewash.

"During this summer, Northern took passengers across the North of England for granted, and simply gave up trying to run a decent service on lines in Cumbria.

"The franchise system in this country is fundamentally broken. The franchises have become too big and as a result do nothing to serve communities away from major population centres.

"We need to replace it with a system that works."