Rail company Northern says it wants to increase the number of journeys it makes each year by 30 million by the end of the decade.
The company, which has often been criticised by Northern politicians for the reliability of its services, has unveiled its ‘30 by 30’ plan to increase passenger numbers significantly by 2030.
The plan says a third of the increased passenger numbers will come from organic growth, a third from improved reliability and the final third from new systems such as better ticketing and more integrated rail systems in the North.
Alex Hornby, commercial and customer director for Northern, said: “Our vision for 30 by 30 is rooted in confidence and user research. Our data shows that the demand for rail travel is greater than ever, and with improved performance, better value and greater convenience, we can make rail the natural choice for even more people and how they travel across the North.
“This is a growth plan with purpose. It is customer-led, and we aim to deliver it alongside our stakeholder partners. It aligns closely with local ambitions, the region’s economic goals and national transport strategy.”
Northern - which operates most local services in the North of England - said it was seeing a recovery in journey numbers and satisfaction levels above the national average. It said its new plan complemented the Government’s vision for Great Northern Railways.
Northern is the second largest train operator in the Ƶ, with 2,650 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England. It came under effective Government control in 2020 as an operator of last resort after the service from previous operator Arriva was deemed unacceptable.
Challenges have continued for the company, however, and Northern mayors including Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham have previously described plans to improve services as “vague” and “still not good enough”. Earlier this year the Rail North Committee at Transport for the North heard that the company was still using fax machines for some internal communications.
Part of Northern’s plans for increasing passenger numbers is hitting its ‘90/2’ performance ambition, under which 90% of trains arrive within three minutes of timetables and fewer than 2% are cancelled. Most recent figures show that the company is some distance from achieving that target, with punctuality slipping slightly to 80.9% and 3.3% of its services cancelled, though the cancellation figure was an improvement on previous levels.
