'Nationalisation fears' for Sunderland's Grand Central trains sparks Labour-Tory row

A Sunderland Conservative councillor says he fears Labour's rail nationalisation plans could mean the end of the city's rail link to London.

This week the Labour party announced plans to nationalise passenger railways within five years if they win the next election. But Cllr Dominic McDonough says he fears for operator Grand Central, a private company currently running Sunderland-King's Cross services.

Earlier this week LNER announced the cancellation of its Sunderland-London service, leaving Grand Central as Wearside's last rail link to the capital.

Cllr McDonough says that as Grand Central is an "Open Access Operator" (OAO), he wants clarity from Labour because the company differs from other UK services which are franchised by the government.

Grand Central has a track access contract until 2026, but Cllr McDonough says the uncertainty might be enough to make the company consider its plans afterwards.

Cllr McDonough said: “This is hugely worrying for Sunderland and we simply cannot afford to lose this vital rail link which serves business and leisure travellers alike.

"We need clarity on this issue urgently and it is deeply damaging to have such uncertainty hanging over our rail link to the capital.

"I will be writing to Grand Central and the Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh to ask for clarity as these plans seem to have completely forgotten about places like Sunderland who rely on private operators to run services that British Rail simply didn’t bother with.”

However, Cllr Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland Labour Group, told the Echo: “Just three weeks ago, Cllr McDonough told this very newspaper that the existing Sunderland to London route 'is now completely unreliable'.

“He also stated that 'Grand Central must put a plan together to replace their dilapidated trains and provide our city with the service that it deserves' in that very same article.

“Which begs the question… now that an alternative plan has been put forward for our ailing railways, which he has been so vocal in demanding action on, is he suddenly performing a U-turn and bemoaning a proactive plan to deliver rail services that focus on customers and not shareholder dividends?

“Labour has not indicated how, or if, existing routes will be impacted, so for Cllr McDonough to wildly assume that the pledge has 'completely forgotten about places like Sunderland' when nothing has even been said on the subject, is nothing but a desperate attempt to mislead residents and score much-needed political points.”

Following a survey, Grand Central was recently named as Britain’s “second least reliable train operator”, with 12.32% - one in eight - of all trains either cancelled or delayed by at least 15 minutes between January 2021 and September 2023.