This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

The mayors of Manchester and Liverpool have urged Boris Johnson to publicly commit to taking action to end the railway chaos in northern England following reports that ministers will renationalise Northern.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, and his counterpart in the Liverpool city region, Steve Rotheram, issued a joint statement following a report that Northern will be stripped of its franchise by the government.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said in October that the first steps had been taken towards bringing the beleaguered rail service back into public hands.

However, a detailed report in the Sunday Times went further and said Northern would be stripped of its franchise and an “operator of the last resort” brought in to run the railway under direct government control.

Burnham and Rotheram urged the government to “end the damaging uncertainty” and make clear its plans to provide clarity for staff and passengers going into the new year.

They wrote: “All year we have been calling on the government to get a grip of the chaos on the railways of the north and remove the franchise from Northern. Now, just days before Christmas, government sources have finally responded by briefing a Sunday newspaper that they are belatedly going to take action. This is not good enough.”

Northern has been beset by problems, including a breakdown in industrial relations, and suffered more than most networks after the botched introduction of a new timetable in May 2018.

The mayors added: “For much of this year, TransPennine Express has been performing worse than Northern. A timetable needs to be set for improvements and, if they fail to deliver, TransPennine should be next.

“Passengers here are just days away from another big hike in fares but with no certainty that things are going to get any better any time soon. Before they buy new season tickets, the government must let them know where they stand.”

The renationalisation was one of a number of commitments outlined in the Sunday Times article and focused on northern England, where Johnson has vowed to repay the trust of voters who switched political allegiances to back his party in the general election.

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The promises included £4.2bn in extra funding for the directly elected mayors in eight regions to spend on local public transport, and the announcement of the high-speed east-to-west line Northern Powerhouse Rail in the February budget.

The pledges included a £900m devolution package for West Yorkshire that would give the region similar powers to Greater Manchester, including over health and social care, local transport and housing.

Jake Berry, the northern powerhouse minister, also said he was leading discussions to establish a version of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in northern England.

He said the US institution provided a significant boost to the regional economy around Boston and that an “MIT for the north” could have the same effect in Britain.

“We want to set up a world-leading institution in the north to rival Oxford and Cambridge, where the best and brightest will base themselves to create new ideas and sell them,” he said.

Northern and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government have been contacted for comment.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We are developing contingency plans for the replacement of the current franchise with either a new short-term management contract with Northern or the ’operator of last resort’.”