TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major cities and towns of Northern England and Scotland. The franchise operates almost all its services to and through Manchester covering three main routes. The service provides rail links for major towns and cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Sheffield, Hull, Leeds, York, Scarborough, Middlesbrough and Newcastle. TPE run trains 24 hours a day, including through New Year's Eve night. TPE trains run between York, Leeds and Manchester Airport at least every three hours every night of the week. The franchise operates across the West Coast Main Line, Huddersfield Line, East Coast Main Line and part of the Tees Valley line. TransPennine Express was one of several train operators impacted by the 2022 United Kingdom railway strike, which was the first national rail strike in the UK for three decades. Its workers were amongst those who participated in industrial action due to a dispute over pay and working conditions On 26/01/2023, the boss of under-fire train company Transpennine Express has apologised to passengers and admitted services have not been good enough. Transpennine, which operates across the North of England and into Scotland, has been cancelling trains on a daily basis for months, disrupting many journeys. Calls have been made for the company to lose its contract for the service. Matthew Golton, managing director of Transpennine, told the BBC the operator had a "recovery plan" to do better. The government has previously said action will be taken if the company "can't be turned round". Asked about Transpennine cancelling 40% of its services last week, Mr Golton said: "It isn't good enough.
