It took just five days to hibernate the operation of Hull Trains and suspend all services due to the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision has been described by its Managing Director Louise Cheeseman as heart-breaking, but one necessary to protect the business and 130 jobs.
It came just as the open access operator had taken delivery of its fourth of five new £60 million fleet of new trains, and just weeks after it had celebrated carrying the largest number of customers in its history.
All this as the company marks its 20th birthday since being set up.
But as coronavirus took hold and the country was put in lockdown the number of passengers dropped to single figures.
For a company which relies on ticket sales, continuing to run would have put its very existence in severe jeopardy.
As we start to see the first signs of lockdown being eased, Louise has spoken to railbusinessdaily.com about the future of Hull Trains and the important role the company has to play in the region’s recovery.
She said: “At the beginning of March we were flying. We were running a completely new fleet of trains, the old 180s which had caused us problems in the past had gone, and we had just carried the largest number of customers in the history of Hull Trains.
“Everyone in the business was really excited. We had money to invest and huge plans ahead.
“Literally in less than three weeks we’d gone from carrying the largest number of people in the history of the business, to going down to single figures. It literally fell off a cliff.
“For me to see the hard work to get the business back from where it had been in the last 18 months with all the problems was just heart breaking.
“But it was a decision that had to be made because it was the right thing for the business, to protect the business and to protect the jobs. Taking this decisive action ensures that when all this is over there will be a Hull Trains to relaunch. To not have suspended services would have put that at real risk.
“The hardest part was to tell everybody. I knew how upset and worried everyone would be, and still are. I had to assure them hand on heart this was the right thing to do to protect the business for the future – something I still firmly stand by.”
Although no trains have been running since Monday, March 30, there has been a lot of work going on in the background. Conversations continue to be held with train operating companies, particularly around passenger numbers. In-house and Louise says all the preparations have been made to put them in a position to relaunch services when the time is right.
She said: “It has been incredibly complex, but we have got all our contingency plans ready and we know what we need to do when we relaunch. The plan is ready to go, we just need to wait until the time is right.
“Like all businesses we’ve been carrying out all the risk assessments on all our working environments and practices.
“We’ve had the tape measures out on our trains measuring between seats through to looking at all the methods of our work.
“Among the measures we’ve been looking at includes people getting on and off trains, through to where the driver sits to make sure they have the correct cleaning facilities and have enough time within the timetable to clean their working environment.
“Cleaning is one of the big areas and we’ve been looking at different methods of cleaning. We employ a cleaning company and have been ensuring that they have the best equipment and best materials to keep both our staff and customers safe.
“We’ve already introduced on train cleaning so all the time our trains are in service we have a cleaner on board regularly cleaning the bathrooms, wiping handrails and all those key touch points.
“All that preparation work is done and we’re currently bringing back more colleagues. That is a real sign that things are starting to emerge on the other side and has given everybody a real lift.
“The timing to start operating services is not right yet. To start operating again too soon would make all that time we’ve spent hibernating wasted.
“So there’s a real tipping point. We are watching and talking to other operators about passenger numbers and keeping a close eye on the Government advice and the easing of the lockdown.
“But one thing that both passengers and staff can be certain when we do start services again, is that they will be safe when they are travelling with us.”
The interview with Louise came after Hull’s three MPs called on the Government to help the train operating company resume services.
In a letter, Karl Turner, Diana Johnson and Emma Hardy said there was the ‘genuine prospect’ of Hull Trains going out of business.
The calls come as franchised operators have been supported by the government which has shared commercial risk. However, there has been no word on what level of support, if any, the likes of Hull Trains will receive.
Louise said: “I think I’m realistic to know that we are not a franchised operator. We are different and we’ve always modelled ourselves in a different way so it isn’t a surprise.
“One thing I would say is that I’ve been blown away by the support I’ve received cross party and of course by our very loyal customers.
“It really has touched me personally and the rest of the Hull Trains family of how much people miss us and want us back.
“I genuinely believe Hull Trains is an integral part of East Yorkshire and will play an important part of the recovery process.
“We absolutely want to come back because we see the huge role we’ve got to play in that recovery.
“I’m also confident for our future. People have had a taste of the new trains and what the future of Hull Trains will be like.
“We’re expecting to take the delivery of our final train in mid-June. We’ve only ever had four trains and now we’ll have five so we will come out of this in a far stronger position.
“It is a bigger fleet, an amazing fleet. I won’t allow anybody to be anything other than positive. We have the plans in place to relaunch and I’m committed to make this business a massive success and one that we can all be hugely proud of.”
Louise Cheeseman, Hull Trains MD.
Photo credit: Hull Trains
