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Transport for the North (TfN) needs to take greater control of the region’s railways after timetable changes went “catastrophically wrong”, according to the co-author of a government review into recent rail chaos.

Judith Blake, leader of Leeds city council, has been asked by Jo Johnson, rail minister, to establish what went wrong on the region’s trains in May and June — and how to avoid a repeat.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Ms Blake said TfN had been “cut out” of decisions despite having joint responsibility for awarding franchises in the region. In her review she will call for extra funds for TfN, a body set up three years ago to steer future projects.

“TfN needs more powers and crucially needs more resources to have a far more hands-on role. We are not interested in more power without resources because it would be setting us up to fail,” she said.