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The plan agreed for Northern rail services when the franchise was awarded in 2015 "has effectively come undeliverable" because promised infrastructure improvements have not arrived, according to a senior manager.

Chris Burchell, managing director at Arriva, which runs the under-fire franchise, said a new plan was needed for its services as he was grilled by northern political leaders over its poor performance today.

As criticism mounts over the services provided by Northern and fellow operator TransPennine Express (TPE), Greater Manchester metro mayor Andy Burnham said a public deadline should be set for TPE to improve.

At a meeting of the Rail North Committee, TransPennine bosses blamed its poor performance in late 2019 - when it was the worst-performing operator in the country - on Spanish manufacturer CAF's failure to deliver new trains.

EXCLUSIVE: Northern condemned by transport bosses for "fundamental failure" to l...

And officials at Northern said the cancellations and disruption on its services before Christmas was a result of "unprecedented" levels of sickness among its drivers.

But the explanation was ridiculed by Mr Burnham, who told the meeting in central Leeds: "It is not an excuse we would accept from any other public organisation, why would we accept it from you if you wouldn't accept it from us."

Northern's plan for train services 'has become undeliverable', firm admits to political leaders