Northern issue travel warning for passengers across North West England ahead of Christmas period

The rail service provider has called on passengers to check before they travel on Sundays in December. This comes as Northern is proposing to introduce an amended Sunday timetable in the North West this month.

The timetable will be used by Northern to hopefully reduce the number of short term cancellations. When introduced on Sunday December 22 The amended timetable, which Northern hopes to introduce from Sunday 22 December, will have fewer services on Sundays in the North West.

The proposed changes to the Sunday timetable comes after RMT members rejected Northern’s enhanced four-month pay offer for conductors to work on Sundays during a recent referendum vote - an offer that would have seen them double the money they get for working on Sundays.

The situation with conductor availability is expected to worsen over the Christmas period, with fewer conductors volunteering to work extra shifts or overtime.

Matt Rice, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “We are disappointed that our offer for conductors to work on Sundays was rejected and we would like to say sorry to everyone in the North West who will be affected by this disruption in the run up to Christmas.

"We believe the deal that was put to RMT members was fair and reasonable and, if it had been accepted, would have improved reliability in the short-term while we worked with the RMT to secure a longer-term agreement.

"Despite this setback, we will continue to work with colleagues and the RMT union to find a new way forward.

“Our performance in the North West has not been good enough for some time and we understand the impact it has on our customers."

He added: “Across the rail network, Christmas period is an opportunity for Network Rail to carry out engineering. For those wanting to travel over this time, we are asking them to check their journey as close to the day or travel as possible to see if these works will affect their journey.”