TRAVELLERS wanting to visit Manchester’s Christmas Markets from Bolton will have to deal with train strikes.

Services are expected to be reduced by 70 percent, just seven days after weekend trains began to run again in town.

Bosses at Northern, which is the company that runs trains between Bolton and Manchester, has revealed that just two to four trains an hour will run to and from the city on Saturday, with the last service leaving Manchester Victoria at 6.35pm.

It comes as the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) conducts the 36th strike in its ongoing dispute over the role of train conductors.

Union general secretary Mick Cash says the introduction of Driver Only Operated (DOO) trains would be a serious safety concern for passengers.

He accused the company of “ripping up the safety rulebook” in favour of making profit by reducing the number of staff that would need to be paid.

Speaking before the last strike in this dispute, held last Saturday, Mr Cash said: “RMT continues to make every effort to get serious and meaningful talks going with Northern but the company are not interested and would prefer to continue to bury their heads in the sand regardless of the impact on the travelling public.

“We thank the public for their support and understanding throughout this dispute over rail safety and access and the union remains ready for genuine and serious talks.”

Northern and the RMT had previously agreed to talks over the issue, involving meditation firm ACAS but the discussions have twice broken down.

The union has since expanded its scheduled strikes, with action now set to lead up to mid-December.

David Brown, managing director of Northern, said: “In a recent letter to the RMT General Secretary, I called on the union to reconvene talks.

“RMT will need to demonstrate that they are serious about making progress by suspending industrial action and agreeing to discuss the options that they themselves put forward during the first ACAS talks in September. To date, we have not received a response to this proposal.

“During those talks, the RMT changed its mind about what it would discuss between the first and second meetings, making it impossible to progress.

“We have offered to explore all options, including those RMT has agreed with other train operators, but they refuse to discuss these with Northern. I am still waiting for a response to my call to them asking them to get back round table and find a solution to their dispute.”

The company later released information about the number of trains which would run, pointing to major events like the Christmas Markets and singer Jess Glynne performing at the Manchester Arena this weekend.

In addition there are likely to be a number of cancelled services on Sunday, announced by Northern ahead of time.

This comes as the company deals with driver shortages while some staff train on new routes.

For more information, visit: www.northernrailway.co.uk.