Arriva is to keep running local services until SercoNed can take over

SercoNed should now have taken over all local services between Lincolnshire, Merseyside and the Scottish border.

The firm still has to agree contract terms with the government.

Arriva Northern and First North Western, which lost the franchise, have been asked to run services until at least late December.

Political row

The delay has sparked a political row, with the RMT union writing to all MPs in the North of England urging them to sign a House of Commons motion calling for the franchise to be returned to public ownership.

RMT regional organiser Stan Herschel said SercoNed's failure to take over was wasting more taxpayers' money and meant further uncertainties for passengers and rail workers.

"It has already cost �4m to go through this franchising nonsense, and now the taxpayer will be footing another mammoth bill thanks to this latest delay.

"We can only guess how much Arriva and First North Western are being paid to keep running these services while the Strategic Rail Authority and SercoNed argue the toss about the new contract."

The House of Commons motion has been tabled by Leeds North West Labour MP Harold Best.

Nine-year franchise

Serco describe themselves as one of the world's leading service companies, running such diverse operations as the electronic monitoring of criminals and Bradford's schools.

SercoNed railways took over the 25-year Merseyrail franchise last year.

The franchise for local services in an area bounded by Liverpool and Carlisle to the west, Lincoln and Newcastle to the east, and including all Lancashire, Cumbria, and the Yorkshire and Humber region, is due to last nearly nine years.

FirstKeolis took over the separated Transpennine express franchise from Arriva in February this year. Keolis has transport interests in the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Canada.

The northern local rail franchise includes 475 stations, covers nearly 3,000km of track, using 265 trains to carry about 60 million passengers every year, the Netherland Railways' website claims.

The franchise should have been transferred on Sunday 17 October but it may be the end of the year before SercoNed does take over.