The Green Party in Yorkshire has cautiously welcomed the announcement by the Transport Secretary that Northern Rail is set to be stripped of its franchise.
Sheffield-based Green peer and former Party Leader Natalie Bennett has said “Commuters in the North deserve better rail services and we welcome the news that we are finally going to ditch Northern, however, just changing who runs the train services isn’t going to solve the problems that rail users face.
“We need to rethink how train services are run, putting passengers at the heart. The government needs to accept that the private sector’s involvement in our railways has failed and what they are doing to regulate the railways has also failed.
“Our trains need to be for the public good where profits are reinvested back into the network – as happens across most of Europe.”