Dozens of suspended train services will not be back until September

Dozens of the suspended train services between Preston and Blackpool will not be coming back until September, it has been revealed.
The Transpennine Express has been affected by the timetable chaosThe Transpennine Express has been affected by the timetable chaos
The Transpennine Express has been affected by the timetable chaos

Northern suspended 30 services between Preston and Blackpool South as chaos engulfed the network after it introduced a new timetable.

The firm has now announced that some of the suspended services will be reintroduced next Monday - but the rest will not be back until September.

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David Brown, Managing Director, Northern said: “The May timetable caused significant disruption for customers on some routes on our network and we’re truly sorry for that. We introduced an interim timetable on a number of routes from June 4, and that has enabled us to accelerate our driver training, stabilise service levels, improve performance and significantly reduce last-minute cancellations.

“Whilst we are ready to reintroduce all 168 daily services, given the need to drive further improvements across Manchester, we have agreed to a more gradual reintroduction of our services. A phased introduction is the right approach to ensure a more stable and reliable service for customers.”

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When will our train services be reinstated?

In Manchester Northen will reintroduce four services a day (of the 10 removed) on the Kirkby to Manchester Victoria line via Wigan on July 30. The other six services will be reinstated during September.

The Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge services (12 removed) will all be reinstated in September.

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Overall across the Northern network, 75 per cent of services will be back next Monday.

Leo Goodwin, Managing Director, TransPennine Express said: “There has been disruption on parts of the rail network since the timetable change in May. As an industry we are really sorry for the impact that this has had on customers. Congestion on the network within the Manchester area has been a factor in the disruption and as all our services run through this corridor this caused a knock-on effect on our services across the North.