AN MP has vowed to ‘keep the pressure up’ on rail bosses after they promised to improve services.

Sir David Crausby has long campaigned to improve conditions for commuters in his constituency whose journeys have been plagued by overcrowding and delays for years.

The Bolton North East MP says that, while he welcomes the first sight of Northern Rail's new fleet of trains, he will not celebrate until he sees them in Bolton.

Sir David said: "I have become a little cynical about these things over the years because there have been too many broken promises.

"I welcome any improvements, but I will believe it when I see it.

"It is ridiculous that, in 2018, people are still having to cram themselves onto trains at places like Bromley Cross.

"Things like Wifi are wonderful when it comes to long journeys, but I don't think that is the priority here.

"We just need more trains. We have a fantastic railway line and all we need is trains with more than two carriages to go on it. I am not bothered about how fancy they look, I just want people to be able to get on the train.

"I remember last time we were promised new trains, they ended up going to the Chiltern line instead. That can't happen again."

Northern Rail bosses said leaves on the line damaged a large number of carriages last autumn, resulting in a reduced number being in service through Bromley Cross and Hall i’ th’ Wood stations.

But the MP said it was ‘not a good enough explanation’ for why people were still being left on the platform.

He raised the issue with Northern Rail and received a reply from regional director Liam Sumpter which said services with three carriages were now running 80 per cent of the time.

But he conceded this was of ‘limited comfort’ for those who were facing one ‘short-formed’ two carriage trip each fortnight.

He said: “Given the feedback from your constituents we are going to look at how to protect this particular service better in future.

"The engineering team will place a ‘red flag’ on it which gives it some priority over other services and I will monitor progress myself in the coming weeks.”

But Sir David said on the same day he received the letter from Northern Rail, he was getting messages from passengers complaining of only two carriages arriving at the station.

He said: “They are paying attention, our constant pressure is making them address the issue, but I won’t be happy until I see it happening on a regular basis.

“It’s not just here in Bolton, the whole railway system isn’t working. Privatisation has not worked. I’m not one that says no privatisation works. Some does, but this one hasn’t — it’s been a disaster."