MORE seats and wi-fi at stations have been promised after First TransPennine Express was awarded the contract for key services through Bolton for another year.

The Department for Transport announced on Friday that the rail operator is to keep the franchise until April 1, 2016 – and promised services will improve.

Under the new directly-awarded franchise, wi-fi will be introduced at all ‘major’ TransPennine stations and existing trains modified to improve their reliability.

An extra carriage — equivalent to 120 seats —will be put on half of First TransPennine Express services between Blackpool North and Manchester Airport from May, benefitting Bolton passengers, and there will be investment in new customer information facilities at some stations.

Tim O’Toole, chief executive, said: “The agreement provides continuity and consistency for First TransPennine Express passengers over the next year, as we focus on continuing to deliver great customer service and introducing improvements.”

Earlier this month, the Government announced that, whoever takes over the First TransPennine Express (TPE) franchise for 2017 will have to make sure trains between Manchester and Scotland call at Bolton.

This will mean an extra train to the airport from Bolton every hour – but services will not have to stop at Bolton during the morning and evening rush hours.

Rail Minister Claire Perry said: “We have set out how we will transform rail services across the north over the next few years, but we are determined that passengers shouldn’t have to wait to see much-needed improvements.

“The agreement with First TransPennine Express will make a real difference to passengers, paving the way for the next franchise to further develop a railway the north of England is proud of.”

First TPE, Keolis Go-Ahead and Stagecoach TPE are all shortlisted to be the next operators for the franchise.

Abellio Northern, Arriva Rail North and Govia Northern are bidding for the Northern franchise for 2017 onwards.

In rules specified by the Government, whichever operator gets the Northern and TPE franchises must ditch the "old bus on rails" Pacer trains and resolve the issue of overcrowding by reducing standing to a minimum of 20 minutes or less in peak times.

The decision to re-direct the Scottish service away from Bolton via Wigan in 2013 sparked The Bolton News’ Let’s Get Back on Track campaign, which demanded the Government and operators take action to address overcrowding on the town’s "cattle truck" railways.

A year ago, we delivered a petition of more than 1,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street — with David Cameron promising to put an extra 200 seats on morning rush-hour services.

In February, Transport Minister Patrick McLoughlin promised overcrowding on Bolton train services will improve but did not give a date for the arrival of the extra train carriages.