By Greg Dawson
Northern rail cancelled 19 trains by 10 o’clock this morning while another 31 were delayed.
Northern rail has said this is down to operational issues and not the new timetable.
Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside have been affected the greatest by the issues.
Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham said that issues with the railway had “gone on far too long”.
“If the government is serious about supporting the north, then it needs to show it by acting this week to sort out our failing rail services,
“As a first step, it should strip Northern of its franchise. That would send a clear signal to all rail operators – notably Transpennine Express – that we will not accept a second-class rail service for people in the North.
“If Transpennine Express fail to respond to that message, they should be next.” he said.
A spokesperson for Northern Rail said that “The small number of delays and cancellations are due to operational issues including driver sickness, signalling failure and train faults.”
Each year, Northern rail changes its timetable in May and December. Northern had said they would introduce 50 new trains across its services.
In October, less than half of Northern services ran on time, according to their figures.
The operator has said the changes to the latest timetable are focusing on “reliability and stability” and would add to the services each week.