A guide to June 2024 timetable changes

Scan the QR code to download timetables or visit tpexpress.co.uk/timetables

Introduction

Hello everyone,

Well, it’s been almost six months since the December 2023 timetable change and there’s no doubt that the bold decisions we made to stabilise our timetable late last year – and all the subsequent hard work – are paying off. Cancellations are down more than 50 per cent compared to this time last year, customer complaints are at their lowest level for many years, and together we’re providing the consistent and reliable service that our customers need and deserve.

On Sunday 2 June, our timetable will change again, with an uplift to the number of services on the West Coast Main Line – bringing back the full timetable on that route for the first time in several years – and the introduction of some new services across the network to bring more opportunities for customers to travel with us.

As always, you, our colleagues, will be key to successfully delivering the new timetable and this guide is designed to help you understand what changes are taking place and why.

June’s timetable will continue our work to stabilise TPE and to restore trust among customers and stakeholders. The changes have been made in consultation with key stakeholders to ensure everyone understands the decisions and to deliver a timetable that delivers the best possible service for the communities we serve.

In brief, the June timetable change includes:

• Uplift in services on the West Coast Main Line from 34 to 40 per day

• Additional services on the Manchester – York via Wakefield and Castleford

• Additional evening services between Manchester and Liverpool to support the night-time economy

• Additional York – Scarborough weekend services

• Additional Cleethorpes – Liverpool Lime Street Saturday night service

With an increase in services, we see an increase in seats and opportunities for rail travel versus road. The number of seats we will be adding on the West Coast Main Line alone will have a fantastic impact on sustainability and for the communities along that route, who will have more opportunities to explore the north west and into Scotland.

As well as preparing for our June timetable change, work is well under way to plan for our December 2024 timetable change. We are currently working through the details of the changes, which will see a significant uplift by reinstating the previous frequency of services across our North route, and we will be in touch regarding this when we can share more.

Thank you, as always, for your hard work as we continue our journey to restore TPE back to being the trusted and respected operator we know we can be.

Chris Jackson Managing Director

June 2024 Timetable Change by Route

Anglo-Scottish services – WCML

Manchester Airport/Liverpool Lime Street to Edinburgh/Glasgow Central

This service group is reinstated to near pre-Covid levels, with the resumption of a two-hourly service between Manchester Airport and Glasgow Central, therefore giving a consistent hourly service between Manchester and Lockerbie between 0600 and 1800.

The 1904 Manchester Airport – Glasgow Central and 1908 Glasgow Central –Manchester Airport are not reinstated at this time. This is to facilitate unit cycling of the Class 397 fleet that otherwise get trapped in a circuit at each end of the route.

Three trains per day between Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow Central are also reestablished, all routing via and calling at St Helens Central, (plus a Liverpool-Oxenholme stub each way).

Following the training of Preston depot on the Chat Moss diversionary route, further trains will now divert via Golborne to retain knowledge for both Manchester Piccadilly and Preston. The full list is as follows:

Mondays to Saturdays:

1C92, 2104 Manchester Airport – Lancaster (1N92 as far as Preston, Saturdays)

1M69, 0628 Lancaster – Manchester Airport

1M62 (formerly 1M92), 1707 Glasgow Central – Manchester Airport (1709 Saturdays)

1M65 (formerly 1M95), 2012 Edinburgh – Manchester Airport (SX)

1S30, 0457 Manchester Piccadilly – Glasgow Central (MSX)

Sundays:

1M64, 0916 Glasgow Central – Manchester Airport

1M63, 2127 Preston – Manchester Airport

1N92, 2059 Manchester Airport - Preston

On Sundays, there is no natural Edinburgh-Edinburgh diagram suitable for a Class 802 to work. As such a ‘bounce’ at Preston will occur around 2100. An 802 diagram is therefore created working the following services, limiting the 397 requirements to nine as per Monday to Saturday.

1M85, 1013 Edinburgh – Manchester Airport

1S66, 1410 Manchester Airport – Edinburgh

1M93, 1813 Edinburgh – Preston (connects onto 1M63 to Manchester)

1S88, 2109 Preston – Edinburgh (connects off TPE’s 1N88 from Manchester)

The service group will therefore use nine Class 397s and one Class 802 consistently each day of the week, with a daily exchange between Polmadie DHS and Longsight CS of the Class 397 fleet.

North Route

Edinburgh – Newcastle

There are no changes to this service group.

Newcastle – Liverpool Lime Street

To support the Liverpool and Manchester night-time economies, additional evening services are introduced.

A 2131 Liverpool Lime Street – Manchester Airport is introduced Monday to Fridays calling at Lea Green, Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly.

A 0018 Liverpool Lime Street – Manchester Victoria only is introduced Tuesday to Saturday running non-stop. This does not call at any intermediate stations as the routing will regularly change STP.

Scarborough – York

Several summer additional services will run at weekends from 02/06/24 until 20/10/24 using a unit that would otherwise have gone to Manchester and been spare on Ardwick.

Saturdays:

1K52, 0810 from Scarborough terminates at Leeds

1U37, 0946 Leeds – Scarborough

1U00, 1114 Scarborough – York

1U45, 1220 York – Scarborough

1U66, 1622 Scarborough – York

1U65, 1724 York – Scarborough

1U74, 1820 Scarborough – York

1U71, 1918 York – Scarborough starts forward at York instead of Manchester Victoria

Sundays:

1U33, 0954 York – Scarborough

1U00, 1110 Scarborough – York

1U61, 1624 York – Scarborough

1U70, 1720 Scarborough – York

Saltburn – Manchester Airport

At Saltburn, currently TPE predominantly uses Platform 2 and Northern uses Platform 1. Platform 2 is nearer to residential properties at the Redcar end, which in turn has triggered numerous noise complaints. To try to rectify somewhat, we will swap platforms so that TPE will predominantly use Platform 1, and Northern will predominantly use Platform 2. As Northern runs two-car units with short turnarounds, it is felt these will cause far less disturbance to local residents.

We continue to look for methods to strengthen 1P68 on Saturdays, which we are critically aware has overcrowding issues, and are hopeful of a solution for the December 2024 timetable change.

Hull – Manchester/Liverpool

SX, the 1903 departure from Hull is diverted to Liverpool Lime Street calling at Stalybridge, Manchester Victoria and Lea Green. On Saturdays this service remains through to Manchester Piccadilly.

York – Wakefield Kirkgate – Huddersfield – Manchester Piccadilly

Two additional services Mondays to Saturdays are extended through to York. This brings the service to two-hourly 0700-1700. All services call at Deighton, Mirfield, Wakefield Kirkgate, Normanton and Castleford and are formed of single Class 185s. This allows Manchester Traincrew Depot drivers instances of work over the Castleford diversion they have re-learnt.

2E71, 1058 Manchester Piccadilly – York

2E75, 1258 Manchester Piccadilly – York

2M70, 1052 York – Manchester Piccadilly (1058 Saturdays)

2M74, 1258 York – Manchester Piccadilly

South Route

Cleethorpes – Manchester Piccadilly – Liverpool Lime Street

1B88, 1719 Liverpool Lime Street – Cleethorpes for some time has been the only TPE service not to call at Habrough. This was due to needing to pass ahead of a Barton-Cleethorpes on minimum headway. With agreement from EMR, 2F96 has been subtly retimed and as such a Habrough call has been added to 1B88 all days. The 2253 Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street is introduced Monday to Friday calling at Manchester Piccadilly (2308), Manchester Oxford Road, Urmston, Irlam, Birchwood, Warrington Central and Liverpool South Parkway. Please see North Route for other Liverpool enhancements.

A 2122 Cleethorpes to Doncaster is introduced on Saturdays calling at Grimsby Town, Habrough, Barnetby and Scunthorpe. This replaces 5B88 and means the last departure from Cleethorpes is now consistently in the 21xx hour all days of the week.

Long Term Planned Engineering

Midweek Nights:

From 2250 weeknights, including Fridays, the route between Thornhill LNW Jn and Copley Hill East Jn is blocked more weeks than it is not due to Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) possessions. As such, a reduced service that diverts via Wakefield Kirkgate will be in place.

From 2230 weeknights, excluding Fridays, the route via Micklefield will be blocked more weeks than it is not. As such, services will also divert LTP via Castleford. This is helped by Manchester Traincrew Depot having re-learnt the route. As a result of this block, there was no path for 1K40 FSX, 2308 Hull to Leeds to divert and so this will be replaced with a bus for this timetable. The service will run Friday to Sunday.

Mondays to Fridays from 24 June to 19 July, and also from 21 October to 22 November 2024:

The route between Thornhill LNW Jn and Copley Hill East Jn via Morley will be blocked for a four-week period in early Summer and a five-week period in late Autumn on weekdays only.

The following timetable structure will apply:

Hourly Manchester Victoria – Saltburn diverted via Wakefield Kirkgate (2x185)

Hourly Liverpool Lime Street – Newcastle diverted via Wakefield Kirkgate (802)

Hourly York – Scarborough (185)

Hourly Leeds – Hull (185/2x185)

Hourly Manchester – Huddersfield stopper extending to York via Wakefield every 2 hours (185)

Hourly Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport (to be confirmed – 802/185)

Peak-Only additional Manchester – Huddersfield stoppers in opposite half hour (185) Replacement buses will operate between Leeds and Huddersfield serving intermediate stations.

Sundays 23 June to 28 July 2024 (Period F):

The route between Neville Hill West Jn and Church Fenton via Micklefield is blocked for six weeks on Sundays.

The following timetable structure will apply:

Hourly Manchester Airport – Saltburn diverted via Castleford (2x185)

Hourly Liverpool Lime Street – Newcastle diverted via Castleford (802)

Hourly Manchester Piccadilly – Huddersfield – Leeds through stopper (185)

Hourly York – Scarborough (185)

Two-hourly Leeds – Hull diverted via Castleford (2x185)

No replacement buses are required.

Performance – Let’s keep trains on time!

Performance is all about running trains which arrive and depart on time, with the right number of carriages. We’ve made great progress on this since the December 2023 timetable was introduced:

Jargon Buster:

Time to 3 – Departing from the origin then arriving at calling points within 02:59 of the planned time. Time to 15 – Departing from the origin then arriving at calling points within 14:59 of the planned time.

• Both Time to 3 and Time to 15 have improved noticeably since the December timetable was introduced

• Time to 15 has been at or above 95% for the last four periods

• Time to 3 has climbed above 70% for the first time since August 2023

• Cancellations have reduced by around 50% since the timetable change

• Planned Cancellations (P Codes) are now below 2%.

We’ve all experienced the postive impact these improvements have had on our service, and our customers. As we move into the June timetable change it’s vital we continue to improve. Every small action you make saves vital seconds, which helps keep our trains on time. What you can do to:

• Consider the wider impact of your decisions: don’t delay 300 customers to help one. Even one or two minutes of delay can easily grow into much bigger incidents which affect far more customers than it helps.

• Check the detail: Schedule Cards can change day-to-day, especially when engineering work is taking place. Check you’ve got the right schedule card for the day and date. If you’re in doubt, contact the Resource Deployment Allocator.

• Right time starts: Trains which depart their origin station on time are 16% more likely to be on time or within three minutes of schedule throughout their journey, compared to services which depart one minute late. Using time allowances for train preparation helps get customers on board ready to depart on time.

• Customers boarding and alighting: Busy services, customers with luggage, or who require assistance, can cause delays at stations. Proactive announcements and being ready to help customers on and off our services helps to keep our station dwells safe and efficient.

• Get in touch: When you encounter delays or have ideas on how to improve performance, please let us know at TPE.delays@tpexpress.co.uk. Your reports and ideas can help the Performance Team get to the bottom of incidents and identify improvement actions.

Our West Coast Kitchen

With an increase in services on our Anglo-Scottish route, we are delighted to be able to bring our new West Coast Kitchen catering service to even more customers from June 2024!

We introduced the West Coast Kitchen to customers onboard our Manchester, Liverpool, Lancashire and Cumbria services to Scotland back in February this year and it has gone down brilliantly, receiving high praise along the route.

The new catering experience now sees two customer hosts onboard each service, with one dedicated to First Class, offering a personal welcome and farewell to every customer travelling with us. Standard customers have three trolley services throughout the full journey, giving them more opportunities to order food and drink along the way.

A total of 80 colleagues, both new recruits and existing hosts, received Celebrity Service Training by the renowned Geoff Ramm, ensuring our customers get the First Class treatment they expect and deserve from a premium service.

The new menu has been developed in conjunction with our trusted partner, Rail Gourmet UK, and we have sourced locally produced dishes as much as possible to show our commitment to the communities we serve along the route.

Scan the QR code for full details and menu:

For details of where services have catering coverage on this and our others routes, see pages 10 to 16 of this guide.

Catering Coverage – Anglo-Scottish Northbound

Catering Coverage – Anglo-Scottish Southbound

Monday to Friday

Saturday

Sunday

12:12

18:47

20:14

Catering Coverage – North Route

Eastbound

Catering Coverage – North Route

Westbound

Monday to Friday

Catering Coverage – South Route

Monday to Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Piccadilly

Sunday

Depart

Make Someone’s Day with Charm

Our new and improved Charm app is now available to download to your mobile devices, giving you the chance to make someone’s day through a goodwill gesture. Whether you’re dealing with a disgruntled customer because of disruption, or you notice someone celebrating a birthday, you can immediately give them a surprise and feeling of positivity in the form of vouchers.

Charm is incredibly easy to use and completely safe to distribute the vouchers if you follow the terms and conditions.

We really hope to see lots more of you using Charm again and seeing our customers smile!

For all the information on Charm, including FAQs, visit the Customer Experience Hub on The Loop our contact Charm@tpexpress.co.uk

Body Worn Cameras

Deborah Manks

Revenue Protection Assistant She eld

‘I wear a Body Worn Camera because its presence can often help deter acts of aggression. It also provides an accurate record of events as they happen, which can help resolve disputes and provide clarity for our reports.’

We have 400 cameras available at all signing on points across our network.

If you have any questions about bodyworn cameras, contact: tpe.bwc@tpexpress.co.uk

Our vision:

We’re going places

Our values:

Our vision drives who we are and what we do

At TransPennine Express, we’ve set our sights on creating something special – a better-connected network for everyone in the North and Scotland. And we need you to help us get there. We need you to raise the bar, help make someone’s day and work together (or support your teammates). All while being yourself – your lovely, charming self.