URGENT plans to tackle Northern's under-fire rail services have been submitted to transport ministers in a bid to address poor performance issues.

Transport for the North and the Department for Transport have agreed a plan with Northern in response to current performance issues – at the same time that mayors across the North West called for the firm to be stripped of its franchise.

Rail users across East Lancashire have faced continued chaos with cancellation and late trains on Northern services for weeks, with problems escalating since the introduction of new timetables on May 20.

But now the company has pledged to improve services as a matter of urgency, citing improvements to driver rostering, putting on additional peak services and growing a contingency of drivers and managers.

Barry White, chief executive of Transport for the North, said: “We are extremely disappointed and concerned with the inadequate performance of Northern. We have received a timetable recovery plan from Northern to address these concerns and improve the rail experience for passengers.

“Both Transport for the North and the Department for Transport, through the Rail North Partnership, will be monitoring progress against the plan on a daily basis.”

Northern’s pledge to improve services came at the same time that the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and the mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotherham, said that chaos on the network has been so extreme that Northern had ‘lost the benefit of the doubt’.

An investigation into company’s ‘unacceptably poor’ service was also called for by Mr Burnham last week, who said the provider had ‘failed in its duty to deliver a reliable and safe service’.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers said that the recent timetable changes would spell the end for privatised British railways.

General Secretary of the union, Mick Cash, said: “The union is picking up reports of a hopeless lack of planning combined with a shortage of crew and fleet, which has reduced journeys to a nightmare for many passengers.” The RMT carried out two full days of planned strikes on Northern services last week.