MERSEY rail passengers hoping to escape the misery of overcrowded local trains were dealt a double blow yesterday.
Two train companies have been told that the number of extra carriages promised to them has been cut by almost half without explanation, it was revealed.
Northern Rail will receive a maximum of 106 carriages, instead of the 182 it was promised a year ago, according to information passed to MPs.
And TransPennine Express, which had been allocated 42 more coaches, has now been told to expect just 24, by the Department for Transport (DfT).
Between them, the two operators run services from Liverpool to Manchester, Wigan, Warrington, Chester and all across the North. The revelation that the badly-needed extra carriages will not be delivered triggered a furious reaction from MPs, who seized on it as further evidence that the North is losing out on rail investment.
Many are already angry that London is gaining the £16bn Crossrail project and the £5.5bn Thameslink improvement, while no major schemes go ahead anywhere in the North. It will also hugely embarrass Gordon Brown who, just this week, claimed that a total of 1,300 carriages were already being delivered around the country.
