Mayor Wants More Coastal Trains But Admits Funding Is Limited

York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith says he wants to see further improvements to coastal rail services but is reliant on government intervention due to limited local funding.

Train passengers travelling from the Yorkshire Coast will face ongoing lobbying for better services, as regional leaders admit they lack the funds to improve the timetable alone.

Commuters journeying between Scarborough and York currently face a wait until December 2028 to see just two additional morning and evening trains added to the schedule.

The planned additions fall short of the dedicated half-hourly timetable that many passengers and politicians have campaigned for, with the operator currently running just one service per hour on the line.

The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, David Skaith, confirmed he wants to see further improvements but acknowledged the financial limitations of his office. He said:

"On rail we are always pursuing any opportunity we can to improve it. We have the white Rose rail partnership, for example, which is working across the whole of Yorkshire to look how we can improve rail there and then we have the northern powerhouse rail, which our region is heavily involved in and what improving rail across the whole of north will look like as well.

So, we're working with government closely about how we can improve rail and rail infrastructure and those journey times, but it's unfortunately a lot of time this is down to us going to government still and asking for that further investment, because when you start talking about rail and improving rail services and such like that that's when money really does skyrocket."

From December 2028, TransPennine Express will add services at 6.35am and 5.35pm from York to Scarborough, alongside extra trains from Scarborough to York at 7.30am and 6.30pm.

The changes were called for by Lord David Blunkett in his White Rose Plan for Rail and will be among the first run under Great British Railways.

Mr Skaith explained that high passenger numbers provide a clear business case for expanding the timetable further. He said:

"We're quite limited on our funding as to what we can do on rail, so we are very much reliant on government intervention which is why we worked very closely with the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, in improving the the frequency of the trains from between York and Scarborough.

I very much want that to be like the start of this and again, something that probably would have been on the cards previously but we pushed very determinately on to get that because we know that capacity on that that line is very high which is great to see so many people using it and there's there's clearly a business case to improve it. We want to see more of that."

The Member of Parliament for Scarborough and Whitby, Alison Hume, previously celebrated the news of the extra services but confirmed she will keep fighting for a more frequent timetable.

She highlighted that better connectivity is key to unlocking Scarborough's potential and pledged to continue pressing for two trains an hour throughout the entire day.

The managing director at TransPennine Express, Chris Jackson, has also welcomed the future additions to the schedule, noting that they will give customers more choice and greater flexibility.

Meanwhile, the leader of North Yorkshire Council, Councillor Carl Les, highlighted the environmental and economic benefits of the eventual service boost during peak commuter times.

He stated that it is important to have the best possible rail network across the whole of North Yorkshire, including key coastal towns such as Scarborough, to bring environmental benefits and boost the local economy.

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