TODAY The Mail is calling for your support in bringing the dismal rail services in our area to an end.
For too long the rail links in Cumbria have been starved of investment and regarded with disinterest at best, and contempt at worst by franchise holder Northern.
The solidarity shown across our communities throughout this dreadful ordeal has been inspiring. The determination shown time and time again by Cumbrians during times of adversity has been in no short supply over recent weeks.
Last week The Mail launched its Get Our Railway Back On Track campaign, in which we called for Northern to give up its hold on its Cumbrian routes.
Today we are going one step further and ask you, our readers, to add your names to a petition launched by MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, Tim Farron.
Mr Farron's constituency has bit hit disproportionately hard by the rail chaos to have befallen Cumbria. Last Monday was the start of a initial two week, and subsequent four week suspension service on the Lakes Line. Every rail service was replaced by a replacement bus service as Northern scrambled to carry on services on other lines.
Commenting on our backing of his campaign to 'Sack Northern', Mr Farron, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that The Mail is backing our petition for Northern to be stripped of running the Furness and Lakes lines.
"Years of incompetence and neglect from both Northern and the Government mean that we no longer have a reliable rail service, leading to people’s lives being effectively ruined.
"I look forward to working with The Mail to push the Government to stop sitting on their hands and take action."
Since the petition calling for Northern to be stripped of its Cumbrian franchises, it has garnered more than 3,000 signatures.
We are hoping, with your support, the goal of 5,000 signatures will be reached and then surpassed in the coming days.
Fellow south Cumbria MP John Woodcock has also been vocal in his criticism of Northern's handling of the rail crisis.
He said: "I fully back The Mail’s campaign and thank them for championing the concerns of readers.
"We should not kid ourselves that changing the service provider will solve all the underlying problems but they have as yet shown precious little to suggest they are competent to get to grips with those problems.
"Emergency nationalisation must now be on the table. The scale of performance failures across the Furness Coast and Lakes Line has far outstripped the problems encountered on the east coast mainline which the government has just taken back into public ownership."
“For weeks now, the ongoing problems at Northern have been causing utter misery for the thousands of people in Cumbria who have to rely on their trains on a daily basis, and yet there still does not appear to be light at the end of the tunnel. Passengers have been badly let down, and both ministers and rail bosses still have not delivered solutions.
North Cumbria MP Sue Hayman said for too long residents have been forced to rely on a 'second rate' service.
She said: "It’s particularly disappointing that this crisis happened when rail passengers in Cumbria should have been enjoying a much improved timetable on the Cumbrian Coast Line – instead, they have been faced with multiple cancellations every day.
"This is having a huge knock-on effect on local businesses and the tourist industry.
"For too long, people in Cumbria have had to put up with a second class rail service, and it’s time that urgent action was taken to rectify this."
To add your name to the petition visit
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