Admission made at meeting chaired by Andy Burnham in which rail operator is asked to account for poor performance

The rail operator Northern has said it still uses fax machines to communicate vital messages to train crews.

The train company made the admission at an extraordinary meeting of the Rail North Committee, chaired by the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, on Wednesday morning, at which Northern was asked to account for its poor performance, including repeated “do not travel” messages issued to passengers on Sundays.