Northern asks customers to plan ahead for festive travel arrangements

Due to major engineering work in Leeds, the impact of Covid and train crew availability, services are expected to be busy over the festive period and may be subject to short-notice cancellations and alterations.

Northern services will end from 7pm on Christmas Eve and there are no trains running on Christmas Day and Boxing Day – and major improvement work is due to take place on these days.

Some improvement work will then continue until Monday, January 3, 2022 and there will be some changes to services:

December 27 - January 1 - A reduced train service will run in and out of Leeds station. Some bus replacements will be in place.

January 2 - Very limited train services will run to and from Leeds. Bus replacements will be in place for passengers.

January 3 – A reduced train service will then run with some bus replacements in place.

Tony Baxter, regional director at Northern, said: “We advise passengers who plan to travel over the Christmas period to check their journey in advance - with their train operator or via National Rail Enquiries - and allow plenty of time.

“We’re sorry if anyone experiences disruption over the Christmas period.”

Northern has more than 600 dedicated cleaning staff working on trains and at stations with a particular focus on touch points (tables, buttons and toilets).

The enhanced cleaning regime is designed to protect customers and staff by reducing the potential risk of transmission, which is already proven to be extremely low on the rail network.

The operator is also asking customers to be considerate of others and wear a face covering, unless exempt, on trains and at stations.

For full details of Northern’s timetables, visit northernrailway.co.uk or nationalrail.co.uk