Crew shortages mean Northern Rail has issued a ‘do not travel’ warning to Tameside passengers for the 7th Sunday in a row.
No trains or rail replacement buses will serve the Stalybridge to Manchester Victoria line today, with ongoing staffing issues affecting the company’s ability to run a full timetable.
The troubles are also hampering travel on other routes in the North West, including the services between:
Manchester Piccadilly to Stoke-on-Trent
Manchester Victoria to Chester
Preston to Colne
The temporary closure of Liverpool Lime Street station has exacerbated the problem, along with the potential for further disruption from Storm Ashley.
“Recently, our performance and reliability have not been up to scratch and for that we are sorry,” said a statement from Northern. “We are working hard to improve service reliability.”
Apart from a handful of early morning trips, there are no direct regular buses between Stalybridge and Manchester today.
However, the 237 runs between Ashton and Glossop for bus, tram and train connections to the city.