The pain on the train: let’s take it to the top

Train. Pain. Insane.

That’s the new North West rhyming slang.

It’s something we want to bother Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Transport, about. And we want you to help.

We put this article up in February this year – click here – about the appalling level of service by East Midlands Trains on the Manchester to Liverpool line.

You responded with lots of your own experiences and suggestions. East Midlands Trains said they understood and they apologised ‘to passengers who have been inconvenienced but assure them we are doing everything possible to make improvements’.

Months have passed. Spring has chugged through summer, the leaves have slid off the trees onto the track and winter is upon us again.

And still the bloody Manchester to Liverpool service is a mess, a disgrace to the North West, a brake on the economy and a daily nightmare for commuters and travellers. Indeed since the service was taken over by East Midlands Trains a year ago, the service has become a byword for chronic overcrowding and endless delays and cancellations.

These are some of the issues Confidential readers want tackling:

• During rush hour, the trains need at least four carriages (this still leaves people standing). There are only ever two.

• Due to a lack of carriages, many people are left at stations. On the packed trains people frequently faint: it’s a health and safety disaster.

• Carriages have been cobbled together from different areas, on some trains the door software has proved incompatible with other systems and engineers have had to be called to open them.

• Because of the pressure on staff, rudeness has become the norm in their dealings with the paying public.

• Tickets prices have risen but the service hasn't improved and commuters would like something back in return.

• Trains are frequently cancelled

• Trains are frequently delayed due to only having two carriages. The train has been forced to remain at Warrington Central until people get off due to over crowding.

So this is what we want to do. We want every single person who is fed up of the East Midlands Trains service on the Manchester to Liverpool line to fill in the form below.

We’ve made it as easy as possible for you, so it will only take a moment to have your say.

The email will go to Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Transport, plus East Midlands Trains representatives and local MPs.

Make your voice heard. Send your message now, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll make a difference.

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