Severe disruption on first day of new Northern timetables

Just hours in to the first day of new timetables for Northern trains, services are already suffering severe disruption.

Today marks the day when, Northern said, 75 per cent of the services cancelled after the introduction of new timetables would be reinstated.

However a shortage of drivers mean that several services have had their routes shortened.

The 8.41 service from Manchester Airport, supposed to be going to Barrow-in-Furness, terminated in Preston.

The 10.44 service from Preston to Barrow did not start in Preston, but instead started in Lancaster.

And the 11.53 service from Barrow-in-Furness to Manchester Airport instead started in Preston.

The 14.01 service from Blackpool North to Liverpool Lime Street instead started in Preston, with a replacement bus service from Blackpool to Preston.

Passengers on the route between Preston and Barrow, calling at stations including Lancaster, Carnforth and Silverdale will instead get a replacement bus service.

An attempt by Northern to introduce a new timetable earlier in the year resulted in chaos when there were not enough trained drivers to staff the new routes.

Train operator Northern reintroducing 75% of cancelled services after timetable ...

Northern responded by curtailing services on a temporary basis.

Last week it was announced that of the cancelled services, 75 per cent would be introduced today, with the remaining 25 per cent returning in September.