Northern urges rail passengers not to travel on Christmas Eve as disruption expected on trains in Lancashire

Services across the region will finish earlier than usual at around 4pm and some routes will see no services operating.

Northern said customers should "expect disruption" due to "limited train crew availability in some areas".

Customer have been advised not to travel on the following routes:

1. Morecambe/Heysham – Lancaster
2. Blackpool South – Colne
3. Wigan – Stalybridge
4. Clitheroe – Manchester Victoria
5. Manchester Victoria – Chester
6. Manchester Piccadilly – Chester (Via Altrincham)
7. Manchester Piccadilly - Crewe

There are no rail replacement buses for the above routes.

Craig Harrop, Regional Director at Northern, said: "Unfortunately, customers travelling on Christmas Eve should expect disruption and we are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause.

"This is due to limited train crew availability in some areas. We strongly advise customers not to travel in the North West on these routes.”

"Ticket restrictions have been lifted, on Northern services, for customers to use tickets dated December 24 on December 23."

More details about Christmas disruption can be found at https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/christmas-engineering

In addition, rail timetables across the North of England changed on December 10 in line with the rest of the National Rail network.

Customers are encouraged to use the 'Check My Timetable' feature on the Northern website for more information about their local station.

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.