Train timetable changes causes 'difficult morning'

Northern trains

A spokesman for Northern said: “It has been a difficult morning for some of our customers, in particular on a number of routes around north Manchester extending up to Blackpool, and we are very sorry for the delays and cancellations they have experienced.

The spokesman added: “We will continue to do everything we can to ensure we minimise any service disruption and keep customers informed as quickly as we can through our website and social media. We are working hard to address the issues we faced this morning and are developing plans to help our customers get where they need to be this evening and for the rest of the week.”

“The May 2018 timetable change, which went live today for commuters, has seen around 90% of our services change and an extra 1,300 train services a week introduced across our network, the biggest change to local rail for many years. This remains a significant operational challenge and we continue to expect some localised service disruption, which could happen at very short-notice.”

Northern customers are urged to check their train times before they travel at National Rail Enquiries or on our website, where we will post notification of known disruption as soon as we can.

The May 2018 timetable change, which went live today for commuters, has involved changing the times of about 90% of our 2,600 daily services, in many cases to make room for changes to longer-distance train services.

Some services now depart a minute earlier or later than previously but for other services there have been more fundamental changes to departure times, frequency and types of train operated.

We are also introducing an extra 1,300 train services per week as part of our modernisation plans.