1,000 signatures reached
To: Department of Transport
Support Hull Trains
We call upon the Government to provide Hull Trains with the necessary assistance to restart their direct train services between Hull/ Beverley and London, following their suspension on 30 March 2020.
Why is this important?
Hull Trains has been the main provider of direct train services between Hull and London since 2000, gradually expanding its services and recently investing £60m in new, more reliable rolling stock.
Open Access rail operators such as Hull Trains rely solely on ticket revenues in order to run services. Social distancing restrictions on passenger numbers means that restarting services is not viable without the financial support that has allowed franchised rail operators to recommence their services. Open access rail operators still incur costs when their trains are not running. However, they cannot remain commercially viable without running trains. If Hull Trains ceased trading, Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire would regress 20 years to having only one daily direct rail service to London. 130 jobs would be lost.
Supporting Hull Trains in these exceptional circumstances would help restore capacity and competition to East Coast rail services and aid the economy’s gradual return to normality through the period of social distancing. With Transport for London being provided with at least £1.6bn of Government funding, making it possible to reinstate open access rail services that existed before the COVID-19 lockdown should be a more urgent priority for a Government committed to the Northern Powerhouse than longer term infrastructure plans.
