Rail firm says sorry - then cuts 165 trains

industry had failed passengers.

Northern hopes that the interim timetable will enable it to stabilise services over the next few weeks, thus reducing the number of lastminute train cancellations.

Trains in the Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool, Lancashire and Lakes areas will be affected.

On the route specifically used by many commuters in Kirklees, the number of trains operating each day between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge will be reduced, as will services on the Kirkby to Manchester Victoria line via Wigan.

Additionally, due to the closure of Liverpool Lime Street, only three trains per hour will run between Liverpool and Wigan/ Manchester Victoria.

On a number of routes Northern will introduce alternative rail services “as well as other modes of transport.” Where available, rail replacement buses will also operate on affected routes with details provided locally for customers.

Northern has blamed the disruption on having to deliver its new timetable in a third of the usual time available, and on the requirement of “complex driver training” covering new routes and different trains, which reduced the availability of drivers.

It says the interim timetable will enable it to accelerate the completion of driver training.

Rail users on the Calder Valley line, including from Brighouse, have also been heavily affected by the disruption.

The Halifax and District Rail Action Group (HADRAG) is welcoming passengers who want to air their views to its annual meeting at St Paul’s Church, Tower Hill, Sowerby Bridge from 10am tomorrow (Saturday).

Chairman of HADRAG, Stephen Waring, said: “Nobody I have spoken to can recall services being disrupted so badly in the past by a timetable change.

“We saw nothing like this when all times changed across the North in 2014, nor at previous recasts either on the privatised railway or under British Rail.”