Councillor slams Grand Central after Sunderland rail passengers 'left stranded'

Train operator Grand Central says it is "working hard to improve performance" after strong criticism from a Sunderland councillor who says it is "completely unreliable".

Cllr Dominic McDonough says passengers heading to Sunderland on Thursday, March 28 were "left stranded and forced to buy brand new tickets with no promise of a refund" when a service was cancelled due to a broken down train.

He says passengers were advised people to buy new tickets on another operator costing passengers hundreds of pounds, while only promising to refund their original Grand Central tickets.

This is the latest issue with the operator, which runs services from Sunderland to London, York, Hartlepool and elsewhere.

Official statistics showed that Grand Central, an Arriva-operated franchise, cancelled almost a tenth of its services in the four weeks leading up to September 16, 2023.

Cllr McDonough has been contacted by residents who missed important meetings, had trips to London ruined, missed flights and were left out of pocket due to delays and cancellations.

He has now written to Grand Central asking for guarantees that inconvenienced passengers are not forced to pay more.

Cllr McDonough said: “The Grand Central service is a vital lifeline for the city, linking Sunderland to York and London, but it is now completely unreliable and no one who needs to be in the capital at a certain time can travel on the service for fear of delays and cancellations.

"Expecting passengers to buy new tickets for hundreds of pounds with a moment’s notice is atrocious and to make no promise of a refund is simply unacceptable.

“Grand Central must put a plan together to replace their dilapidated trains and provide our city with the service that it deserves.

"They were warned that the trains they currently have had a history of mechanical problems and they simply didn’t listen. Sunderland cannot put up with this.”

Sean English, chief operating officer for Grand Central, responded: “I’d like to apologise to our customers who were impacted by the disruption last Thursday.

"In the event of late-notice cancellations, we will always ask other operators to accept Grand Central tickets on their services.

"However, as happened last week, other operators occasionally have to decline this request to avoid overcrowding.

"In that case, customers have the option of travelling on a later Grand Central service, but I appreciate this can cause frustration and delays to peoples’ journeys.

“Over recent months, we’ve been working hard to improve performance by investing in our existing fleet at the same time as securing leases for additional trains.

"I’m pleased to say that overall reliability is steadily improving, and we will continue to do all we can to deliver the level of service our customers deserve.”

Grand Central’s current Sunderland-King’s Cross franchise is due to run out in 2026.