Rail bosses claim reliability statistics from under-fire operator TransPennine Express (TPE) are being 'masked' by its continuing use of 'infuriating' pre-planned service cancellations as late as 10pm the night before.
Transport bosses in Greater Manchester have now raised what they called 'the unacceptable long-term use of what was designed to be an emergency industry measure' with both TPE and the Rail North Partnership.
Pre-planned service cancellations - known as P-coded trains - are removed from systems by 10pm the evening before the trains are due to run, but crucially are not included in passenger delay repay schemes and do not count towards official performance figures. Transport for Greater Manchester has already said 'P-codes' were brought in for exceptional circumstances like derailments as a 'short term emergency', but claimed they were now 'being used every day' and TPE were 'pulling between 50 to 80 trains a day on some days with P-codes'.
