grumpyf1

#NorthernFail It isn’t hard to imagine a conversation taking place at beleaguered train operator Northern, sometime in the depths of winter, that went something like this: “Passengers want more trains!” “Fine – give them more trains.” “What, really? Won’t we need loads more staff to operate them?” “We can worry about that nearer the go-live date.” “But, surely we’ll need time to employ them, train th....” “Shhsh! Stop worrying. It’s cold in here. Chuck something else on the fire.” “How about this large box of customer complaints?” “Perfect – we’ve got loads of those we need to get rid of!” OK, that’s made up, but there is more than enough anger and frustration amongst let-down passengers that it wouldn’t have surprised many of them if it were a true story. Northern have removed 165 services every day until nearly the end of July, as they struggle to cope with an expanded timetable. Some of these are the Lakes Line, running to and from Preston, Lancaster, Oxenhol...