[N]orthern customers seeking to travel across the north of England during the industrial action this weekend will benefit from arrangements put in place with train operators.
Arriva Trains Wales, East Midlands Trains and Cross Country have agreed to add extra stops to some of their timetabled services – calling at stations usually served by Northern.
Across the three days of the strike Arriva Trains Wales services between Manchester Piccadilly and Shrewsbury will additionally call at Sandbach, Holmes Chapel and Alderley Edge. On Monday, services between Manchester and Chester will additionally call at Patricroft.
A similar agreement is in place with East Midlands Trains with some Liverpool to Norwich services – and vice versa – calling at Dronfield, Langley Mill, Ilkeston, Dore, Chinley and Hazel Grove.
In addition, Cross Country services between Newcastle and Edinburgh will call at Morpeth on Saturday and Monday, while Tyne and Wear Metro will continue to accept Northern tickets between Sunderland and Newcastle.
Sharon Keith, regional director for Northern, said: “As a result of industrial action on 8, 9 and 10 July we are running a revised timetable and, as such, we will not be able to run services to all stations.
“We have worked hard to organise ticket acceptance on other train operators and are grateful to Arriva Trains Wales, East Midlands Trains and Cross Country for agreeing to add extra stops to their timetables to help our customers.”
On Saturday and Monday, the majority of Northern services will run between 7am and 7pm, though they will start winding down from late afternoon. On Sunday, most services will run between 9am and 5pm.”
Rail replacement buses will also be used to supplement the rail services and Northern tickets will be accepted on Arriva buses, including Yorkshire Tiger, between 8-10 July.
For full details of timetables, including rail replacement bus services and ticket acceptance, please visit the Northern website – www.northernrailway.co.uk/industrialaction.
