Chamber petitions Department for Transport to provide financial support for Hull Trains
Hull Trains' Managing Director Louise Cheeseman with one of her new fleet of trains.
THE Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce is petitioning the Department for Transport 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 due to the coronavirus.
The petition has got off to a good start with 1,400 people having already signed it - but we need more signatures.
Hull Trains has been the main provider of direct train services between Hull and London since 2000, gradually expanding its services and recently investing £60-million 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.
Please show your support for Hull Trains and sign the petition using the link below.
