A new rail timetable comes into force this Sunday with both Transpennine Express and Northern promising better services on oor network
For Transpenine,Four express trains an hour will run between Manchester Victoria and Leeds with 50 trains running each way, every day, between Liverpool and Manchester stations and more evening services connecting Manchester and Oxenholme, calling at Bolton, Preston and Lancaster
For Northern more electric Class 323 trains will come into operation, providing additional capacity on selected routes.
There will be an increase in the number of seats between Blackpool North and Manchester Airport as the current four-carriage trains revert to six-carriage formation.
Chris Jackson, Managing Director at TransPennine Express, said: “We’d like to remind customers of our timetable change this Sunday, in line with the rest of the rail industry.
“We’re pleased to be returning to our more historic timetable, bringing back and adding new services and additional seats which will make a real difference for our customers.
“We have seen great achievements across TPE in the past 12 months in particular, with cancellations reduced by 70% and, thanks to our customers old and new having confidence to travel with us, we have become the second fastest growing train company in the UK.
As already announced by Network Rail, Salford Central station will be closed between Monday, 10 February and Sunday, 20 April for the next phase of the station’s multi-million-pound makeover.
Salford Crescent is also expected to be closed on some weekends between Saturday, 1 March and Sunday, 18 May, with more details to be announced in due course.
And late-night services between Manchester Piccadilly and Wigan (via Bolton and Atherton) will continue to be replaced by buses on Sunday to Thursday nights while work to electrify the line between Wigan and Bolton is completed.
