Northern's new timetable comes into effect on Sunday the 15th of May and will see most routes' service levels, which were established back in December 2021, remain the same whilst some routes will see both increased seating capacity and uplifts in services.
Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern said:
“Customers are at the heart of everything we do, and the new timetables are designed to deliver high levels of reliability.
“We've made decisions about our timetables based on the levels of resource we have available and prioritising the routes with the highest customer demand, and which support the region's economic growth.”
The new timetable will see the following changes introduced:
In the North West:
- Improvements to calling patterns for Adlington and Blackrod
- Extra services running to Blackpool and Cumbria commencing in July
- Extra services running on the Hope Valley line
- A slight reduction in services for the Manchester Piccadilly-New Mills Central route
- Increased seating capacity for the Settle and Carlisle line
In the North East:
- The Whitby to Middlesbrough line will see a small number of services removed.
- Extra services will be added between Darlington and Saltburn
In Yorkshire:
- A substantial increase in services for the Yorkshire Wolds Coast Line between Bridlington and Hull
- Increased seating capacity for the Settle and Carlisle line
A small number of services will be removed from the following routes:
- Ilkley – Leeds/Bradford
- Skipton – Leeds/Bradford
- York – Harrogate – Leeds
- Hull – Leeds – Halifax
- Leeds – Sheffield – Nottingham
- Leeds – Sheffield via Dearne
Tricia added:
“We fully understand the role we play in keeping people on the move and I am asking our customers to familiarise themselves with the new timetables ahead of the changes this Sunday, and to check carefully before any journeys to ensure their journeys go as smoothly as possible.”
Northern operates almost 2,000 services each day to over 500 stations throughout the North of England and is the UK's second-largest rail operator.
So far today I note that seven departures from Ravenglass have been cancelled in addition to the ones which have been permanently withdrawn from the new timetable as well as being cancelled daily already for several months.
One can’t help thinking this can’t just be down to Covid but possibly/probably down to poor management.
Incidentally I am someone who normally tries to encourage people to travel to by rail.
I’ll be polite here, to quote Northern ‘a small number of sevices will be removed from the following routes’ ……….laughable. How, take for example the Halifax-Leeds-Hull service, which pre covid was hourly with two additional peak servicves at either end of the day. Now it’s down to two hourly for most of the day and only an additional peak in the morning. Both First and Arriva had developed the route with addtional trains and extending to Hull and Halifax. Well used too as a result.
So RMT want the railways privatised, no looking for extra income like a private operator does, now run to a government budget. Don’t go bleating to the public when there’s redundances, loss of jobs etc. as a result. What’s the old football chant ‘you don’t know what you’re doing! Both organisations?