Northern issues warning to passengers planning to travel over Christmas period

A train company has warned North East passengers to check before travelling in December and over Christmas due to planned engineering works and the potential for short notice cancellations.

Northern says customers planning to travel should check as close to their journey time as possible, as some previously planned services may not run or may operate at different times.

Journey planners will be updated next week at: nationalrail.co.uk.

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Network Rail has also announced engineering projects will affect services on various routes across the Northern network. If Northern is forced to cancel services, it will look to provide rail replacement services for customers where possible.

For all the latest information on routes affected by engineering works, ticket acceptance and refunds, customers are asked to visit: northernrailway.co.uk/christmas-engineering.

Matt Rice, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “Across the rail network, the 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.”

Northern currently employs more than 2,000 drivers and 1,400 conductors - more than ever before – and enough to run its timetable. Like most train operators, Northern relies on some rest-day working and overtime to cover training, sickness, and other unavailability.

Sundays are currently outside the working week for most conductors with a notice period not to work Sundays allowed in the North West part of the Northern network due to an agreement which was inherited by Northern Trains Limited when it was set up to run services in 2020.

Northern secured a separate rest-day working agreement for train drivers with the trade union ASLEF earlier this month. Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with nearly 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.