Local News
Tom Backs Transport Committee’s Call To Scrap “Outdated” Pacer Trains
Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Tom Blenkinsop, today backed calls by the House of Commons Transport Committee to scrap “outdated” pacer trains, such as those running between Saltburn, Middlesbrough and Darlington.
The committee has called for pacer trains to be removed from the rail network by 2020 at the latest.
Tom said: “This is a wakeup call from this cross-party committee to the Coalition Government’s Transport Ministers. Despite call after call from me and other regional MP’s, the government have refused to make a definite pledge that these veteran trains - first designed in the 1970s - will be removed and replaced by the same standard of trains enjoyed by commuters in London and the South.
“The only place for a pacer train now is at Beamish Museum - not on passenger tracks on Teesside.”
