BARGAIN hunters can get their Christmas shopping lists on track thanks to a train operator's early gift.

Northern Rail, which runs services through Bolton and across the north, is putting on extra trains every weekend up until and including December 21 so festive shoppers can get into Bolton, Chorley, Preston, Wigan and Manchester more easily.

There are already five services per hour between Bolton and Manchester Victoria and three per hour between Bolton and Preston.

Over the festive period, there will be seven extra services per day towards Manchester Victoria and 10 extra services per day towards Preston.

Some of those trains will stop at Lostock and Horwich Parkway.

On the Wigan North Western to Manchester Victoria Line, there will be five extra services per day towards Manchester and nine extra services per day towards Wigan – all stopping at Walkden, Atherton, Hag Fold and Daisy Hill.

A Northern Rail spokesman said: "This Christmas, we're giving you more: More seats, more trains, more reasons to be merry.

"We'll be providing thousands more seats into and out of the busy Northern cities we serve every weekend in the run up to Christmas.

"We're wrapping up nearly 60,000 more seats every weekend."

He added: "We'll have extra Christmas helpers at stations to advise you on your journey as well as additional signage and easy-to-access information online."

The firm advised passengers to avoid queues by being flexible about when they travel and to make sure they know when their last train home is.

Full timetable information can be found at northernrail.org/news/7546 and at nationalrail.co.uk