News

Northern Trains cancels nearly 2,000 services in April

This week’s strikes left thousands of commuters wondering how to get to work – but this is a common occurrence for commuters using Northern Rail services.

Data revealed there were more than 2,000 cancellations on Northern Trains in April – around one in 30 of scheduled services.

Of these, 1,472 were part cancellations, meaning some but not all of the journey was completed.

There were also 639 full cancellations, meaning that the service completed none of its journey, according to details obtained from a Freedom of Information request. 

The biggest cause of these were driver related – causing 814 part cancellations and 238 full cancellations. 

But there were also 10 full cancellations and 11 part cancellations due to disorderly, drunk or trespassing passengers. 

Northern run nearly 2,000 services a day to more than 500 stations, meaning that in April 2022 although over 2000 services were cancelled, around 58,000 were not affected. 

However, this disruption caused frustration for hundreds of commuters. 

Image: Northern Trains.

Daisy Whitehouse uses Northern trains to travel between Burnley and Manchester to take her children to school, but cancellations mean they often either only get halfway through their journey, or they are forced to drive instead. 

She said: “I used to get Northern trains all the time but it’s a shambles so now only when I have to.”

Alex voiced her frustrations on Twitter.

Alex Rowland – who tweets as Lyra – commutes to and from work with Northern five days a week. 

She said: “Chelford station only gets one train an hour so every time it gets cancelled – four weeks in a row now – I’m stuck for an extra hour and the station has no facilities such as toilets.”

Regional director for Northern, Chris Jackson, said: “No one wants to see train services cancelled, least of all us. Since the end of the pandemic, we’ve made decisions about our timetables based on the levels of resource we have available. 

“We’ve then prioritised the routes with the highest customer demand and those which support the region’s economic growth. We’re sorry for any customers inconvenienced by these cancellations.”

Northern are known for having cheaper, but slightly longer journeys as they stop at many different stations. 

For example, a journey from Manchester Piccadilly to Stoke-on-Trent costs £5.90 with Northern but the same journey would cost £10.50 on an Avanti service or up to £18.80 for a CrossCountry service. 

Related Articles