Dan Jarvis, Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, said: “Yet again, rail passengers in the Sheffield City Region are being treated like second-class citizens.
“Northern Rail promised that Pacer trains, which should have been consigned to a transport museum long ago, would be out of service by the end of the year – but now we know that they will continue to run in South Yorkshire well into 2020.
“This is a further blow for commuters, especially those who use the Hope Valley Line, who have already learned that improvement works to boost capacity on this vital Trans-Pennine route have been delayed.
“It’s also yet more proof of the widening gulf between transport spend in the North and in the South-East. While commuters in London have Crossrail coming; here in the North people face travelling on what are essentially old buses on rails, at speeds that average 35mph.
“Northern Rail needs to accept that this simply isn’t good enough and commit, as a matter of urgency, to serious discussions as to how and when passengers can be compensated for this litany of failures.”
