50 trains cancelled over ‘staff shortages’

GREATER Manchester mayor Andy Burnham’s appeal came as nearly 50 trains were cancelled on Sunday with Northern Rail blaming ‘staff shortages’ for disruption yesterday.

Services were slashed between Liverpool and Manchester Airport and on the Wigan North Western to Huyton route.

The latest disappointment, which Northern failed to inform passengers about until four hours in to cancellations, came just a day before the reinstatement of the May timetable.

It follows two months of an emergency timetable brought in after initial scheduling was made impossible by delayed infrastructure works leading to major driver shortages.

But even the interim timetable has not brought services up to speed.

Service figures including the first three weeks of the timetable reveal:

The number of Northern services in its central region arriving on time has declined to 77.2pc, compared to 88.4pc in the same period last year.

Lancashire/Cumbria inter-urban services (including Manchester–Preston) had 1,179 full or part cancellations (19pc of its services)

Merseyside services into Manchester/Wigan and North Manchester services saw 991 train cancellations (12.7pc and 8.5pc of services respectively).

594 North Manchester services had too few carriages (12.7pc), while for Lancashire/Cumbria inter-urban services 401 trains (10pc) operated with fewer carriages than scheduled.

Chris Grayling, Transport Secretary, had promised to prioritise ending the chaos on the Northern rail system.