RAILWAY bosses say delayed and cancelled trains were not the result of a nationwide timetable change.

Northern, which runs most of Bolton’s trains, implemented a new set of services yesterday to coincide with switches across the country but large numbers of passengers complained after their journeys were disrupted.

Around 38 early morning services across the region were cancelled, including some trips on the Manchester Airport to Blackpool North route - a key commuter route out of Bolton.

Many passengers took to social media to post images of packed trains or busy platforms.

One commuter, Dean Ratcliffe, said: “It’s been awful all weekend. I was going to Blackpool on Friday and a lot were delayed or cancelled. The train I was getting on got cancelled at Salford so I had to go Wigan then Wigan to Blackpool.

“I came back last night and managed to get the 6pm train as well but a few were cancelled. It’s been a nightmare.”

Edward Robinson added: “It would be news if there was no rail disruption, not the other way round.”

The disruption came on the same day as a timetable change, which saw a number of trains across the country run at different times and to different stations.

However, a spokesman for the company said any problems were down to commonly experienced “operational issues” rather than the timetable shift and it is true that Northern has made relatively few alterations to its services this year.

He added: “Very few services have seen any changes as a result of the timetable coming in today. Services that have changed are generally performing well. We run over 2,800 services per day and only a handful have thus far been cancelled.

“The small number of delays and cancellations are due to operational issues including driver sickness, signalling failure and train faults

“As of this morning, we now have over half of our brand new trains in service – and over half of our Pacer trains have now been retired.”

READ MORE: Northern says train delays down to 'driver illness, signal failure and train faults'

Northern’s performance has dipped in the latter part of the year, with an increasing number of services arriving late.

The issues have drawn the attention of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who has repeatedly called for Northern to lose control of the rail franchise.

“This chaos, and the misery it causes for passengers, has gone on far too long,” he said.

“If the government is serious about supporting the North, then it needs to show it by acting this week to sort out our failing rail services.

“As a first step, it should strip Northern of its franchise. That would send a clear signal to all rail operators – notably TransPennine Express – that we will not accept a second-class rail service for people in the North. If TransPennine Express fail to respond to that message they should be next.”

In response to Mr Burnham's criticism, Leo Goodwin, managing director for TransPennine Express apologised to passengers.

“Due to a number of issues with crew training caused by the late delivery of some of our new trains, along with a maintenance backlog we have had to implement a temporary timetable, cancelling some journeys along one of our routes," he said.

He added: "This has unfortunately made a number of other services a lot busier. We are working really hard to sort this for our customers and as we introduce more new trains we should see an improvement to people’s journeys.”