‘Unprecedented’ rail fail could happen again without change

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has stressed the need for action, promising to implement the report's findings to avoid future chaos.

Transcript

00:00Unprecedented winter failures across the Mersey Rail network could happen again if changes

00:06aren't made immediately, a new report warned. During a cold snap in January as snow and

00:10ice fell across the region, services across the Mersey Rail network were completely suspended

00:14for a number of hours, leaving commuters stranded trying to find other ways to get to work or

00:20around the region.

00:22As part of the inquest into what went wrong, Vernon Everett, Greater Manchester's Transport

00:27Commissioner, was asked by Metro Mayor Steve Rotherham to produce an independent report

00:33into the issues. Mr Everett, who has decades of experience in the rail industry, warned

00:38that if changes were not made, the same collapse of the network could happen again.

00:43Mr Everett made six findings and nine recommendations to Mersey Rail, Network Rail and the Liverpool

00:49City Region Combined Authority on how performance can be improved moving forward. This was the

00:55first full winter period in which the new Class 777 trains were operating and the first

00:59time a relatively new anti-icing product had been used on the network, which had not been

01:05tested against snowy conditions.

01:08The root cause of issues were icing on the third rail, which provides power to the new

01:13trains. At one point, some rail temperatures were recorded as minus six degrees Celsius,

01:18which Mr Everett described as getting towards the extreme. He cited Mersey Rail's previously

01:22good record during winter, but highlighted how at no point did any of the partner organisations

01:28allocate a single point of accountability. Mr Everett said the Combined Authority should

01:32take responsibility for appointing somebody with accountability for plans moving forward.

01:37He also called on train operators to adapt their units to be able to scrape ice off the

01:41rails and apply anti-icing as they go.