PRIME minister David Cameron has been accused of making “another broken promise” over Bolton trains by a Labour election candidate.

When Mr Cameron visited Bolton last week, he said he was delighted with news that extra carriages had now been added to a busy Bolton morning commuter train.

He said the news “delivered on a commitment” that he made on an earlier visit to the borough, when he vowed to improve the “cattle-truck” experience for Bolton train passengers by providing 200 extra seats on busy morning trains.

Northern Rail confirmed that it has now started running two extra carriages on one of its morning services — but revealed that the train in question will leave Preston at 8.20am and will not reach Bolton until 8.56am.

David Crausby, who is aiming to be re-elected to the Bolton North East parliamentary seat in May’s general election said: “If David Cameron thinks that 8.56am is a key commuter service he’s even more out of touch than I thought.

“This is more broken promises from a prime minister desperately trying to hold on to power — Bolton deserves better than this.

“All we ask for is some extra carriages so that people can actually get on the train and get to work and repeatedly he has let local residents down and tried to dress it up as a personal victory.

“There is also the fact that two new carriages is not the equivalent of 200 extra seats, but 200 extra places including standing.

“We have got to deal with this issue seriously because it is really important to the people who travel to work from Bolton every day.”

The announcement of extra carriages came after after The Bolton News’ Let’s Get Back on Track campaign, during which we took a petition calling for better trains in Bolton, signed by 1,400 angry commuters, to Downing Street.

Mr Cameron said: “I’m delighted that the extra capacity is finally available. This is all part of a long-term economic plan for the area.”

A spokesman for Northern Rail said: “Providing additional capacity on the Bolton corridor for our customers has always been a priority for us and we’re delighted to be able to.

“The carriages we’ve added have been made available thanks to the introduction of electric trains between Manchester and Liverpool and by the end of 2016, electric trains will also be running on the Bolton corridor following the improvement of Farnworth Tunnel.”