'Don't travel' alert to Wigan Christmas Eve rail passengers

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

Customer are advised not to travel on the following routes:

Morecambe/Heysham – Lancaster

Blackpool South – Colne

Wigan – Stalybridge

Clitheroe – Manchester Victoria

Manchester Victoria – Chester

Manchester Piccadilly – Chester (Via Altrincham)

Manchester Piccadilly - Crewe

Craig Harrop, regional director at Northern, said: “Unfortunately, customers travelling on Christmas Eve should expect disruption and we are sorry for this.

“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 22 and 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 Sunday 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.