Every train in northern England is ‘clapped out’ and needs replacing, rail minister says

Every train in the north of England is “clapped out” and needs replacing, the rail minister has declared.

Lord Peter Hendy said the state of the region’s rolling stock was one of the major problems the Government would have to confront as it pushes ahead with sweeping reforms of Britain’s railways.

Speaking at the Railway Industry Association’s annual conference in London, Lord Hendy said replacing ageing trains should not simply be left on a long-term “wish list”.

He said: “Every train in the north of England’s clapped out. We need to replace them all.

“That’s a really serious investment choice and actually GBR and the Government will have to face it head on.”

The comments came as ministers prepare for the creation of Great British Railways, which will bring responsibility for trains and track under one organisation for the first time since the railways were privatised in the mid-1990s.

Lord Hendy said the industry had spent years operating in separate “silos”, creating a “culture of blame” and making it harder to manage trains efficiently across the network.

He said GBR should allow the Government and rail bosses to take a more joined-up approach to deciding where trains are needed and when ageing fleets should be replaced.

Lord Hendy also criticised previous decisions that had left usable trains sitting idle for years before being pressed back into service elsewhere.

He said: “There’s nothing more stupid than watching some trains halfway through their lives that have been parked in a field, when they’re put back into service miserably failing on a daily basis because the industry wasn’t coherent enough to send them from the place they weren’t needed anymore overnight to the next place that they were.”

He pointed to problems affecting Great Western Railway services in Devon and Cornwall, saying trains that had been left standing outside for several years had later struggled when brought back into use.

“The Great Western has been devastated in Devon and Cornwall by trains that have been sitting in the open air for three years,” he said.

“They don’t work properly. We can do better at that.”

Great Western Railway, which operates services between London and the west of England, is due to pass into public ownership in December.

Lord Hendy was also questioned about the cyber security threat facing Britain’s rail network.

He said the Government was “very much alive” to the risk of attacks on transport systems and described cyber security and the invasion of computer systems as a “principal threat” in the modern world.

“The Government has a sophisticated view across the whole piece about what needs to be done in cyber security,” he said.

“The railway is very much part of that.”

Great Western Railway has been contacted for comment.