Burnham challenged to ‘try getting here by train’ as Whitby rail links slammed

ANDY Burnham has been challenged to travel from Manchester to Whitby and back by train as councillors hit out at ‘inadequate’ public transport.

The prime minister has been set a challenge of trying to get from Number 10 North in Manchester to Whitby and back in a day using just trains, which would take more than five hours each way.

It comes as poor rail and bus links to the North Yorkshire coast have been highlighted as obstacles to employment and economic development.

In his first Labour conference speech as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham promised “good growth in every postcode” last week. However, at a North Yorkshire Council meeting in Whitby the next day, councillors asked: “What is the King of the North, based in Manchester, doing to improve transport on the coast?”

Local representative Cllr Phil Trumper threw down the gauntlet, telling colleagues: “I would invite the new prime minister to travel from Manchester to Whitby by rail and see if he gets there at a suitable time and then get back to Manchester on the same day.”

Travelling by rail from Number 10 North to Whitby would take the prime minister around five and a half hours each way, barring delays or missed connections, according to Google Maps.

If Mr Burnham were to leave his Manchester office at 6am, he would arrive in Whitby just before midday with changes at Manchester Victoria and Middlesbrough.

The earliest return train after a hypothetical two-hour meeting in Whitby would not be until around 4pm, with changes in Middlesbrough and Darlington, meaning the “King of the North” could expect to be back at his office at Heron House just after 9pm.

The journey time could be cut down by an hour each way if he travelled via Scarborough and took a bus from there to Whitby, which takes around one hour. However, as councillors noted at the meeting, the X93 bus service is less frequent outside of the peak season

The time estimates are best-case scenarios that do not factor in delays, cancellations, or missed connections.

Commuters and residents in North Yorkshire also frequently complain about the inconsistent mobile and Wi-Fi signal on trains, raising questions about how much work Mr Burnham could get done during the almost 11-hour round-trip commute.

10 Downing Street was contacted for a comment but did not immediately respond to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Speaking at the same council meeting, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, Alison Hume, said she was “tearing my hair out” over the slow pace of rail improvements.

Ms Hume said: “I’m afraid I haven’t managed to land any kind of rail improvement from Sleights to Whitby, even though I promised that as a candidate. So, I’m tearing my hair out.

“Bus improvements will be coming, and I’m working tirelessly behind the scenes on improving the train services from Scarborough to York and Whitby to Middlesbrough.”

David Skaith, the elected Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said he was “always working on how we can improve people’s transport across the county and obviously, rail is a major part of that.”

He told the meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee: “We’ve pushed hard on improving the connectivity between York and Scarborough already, which will come in time.

“We always want to improve rail and our bus connectivity because that is the most sustainable and still affordable way for most people to travel around the region.”

A half-hourly train service between York and Scarborough will start from December 2028.

However, the Labour mayor also tempered expectations, telling councillors: “We’re always working with Government on how we can get more investment into rail in particular, but these kinds of things are incredibly expensive.”