TRAINS which are overcrowded due to cancellations are putting passenger safety at risk, the Mayor of West Yorkshire has argued.

Tracy Brabin has penned a note to the TransPennine Express Managing Director Matthew Golton ahead of next week’s Convention of the North.

It comes after more than 100 trains have been cancelled this week already.

In the note, Ms Brabin told Mr Golton: “Just a quick note to let you know that next Wednesday all the Northern leaders are heading to Manchester for the yearly Convention of the North.

“We want to bang the drum for our fantastic region.

"Obviously, we actually need to be there to do that.

“And sadly, despite your promises to improve and with more than 100 TPE trains cancelled already this week, I’m just checking you’ve got it covered?”

In a tweet posted this morning, Ms Brabin added that overcrowded trains are a safety issue.

The Telegraph & Argus approached TransPennine Express for a comment.

A spokesperson responded: “We are committed to the communities we serve and want to assure our customers that we are doing all we can to deliver a train service they can rely on.

“Prolonged disruption to our services has been caused by a combination of very high levels of sickness and a training backlog following the pandemic, which have led to us needing to remove services from our timetable on a day-to-day basis through pre-planned cancellations.

“Our customers want, and deserve, reliable and punctual train services, and we are sorry we have not been able to consistently provide that due to the ongoing issues.

"TPE’s team continues to work flat-out to deliver higher levels of service delivery and to tackle the issues that are being experienced by customers.”