TRAIN operator Northern has come under fierce fire in Parliament for its performance on the Airedale and Wharfedale lines.

Keighley MP John Grogan (pictured), speaking during a Commons debate, said the firm’s performance levels over the past year had “sunk abysmally low”.

He regularly receives complaints from commuters about delays to services, cancellations and overcrowding, plus concerns about fewer “convenient” peak-time trains from Keighley to Bradford since the latest timetable change.

Mr Grogan has now written to Northern’s German parent company, Deutsche Bahn, seeking an urgent meeting to discuss the issues.

He told fellow MPs: “There are two main lines in the Keighley constituency, the Airedale and Wharfedale lines, which were electrified in 1994.

“Many people built their lives – their journeys into work and their children’s journeys to school, and so on – around those lines.

“Traditionally they have been high performing, which makes it even more frustrating for so many people that over the last year the performance levels have sunk abysmally low.”