Northern cancels all trains on two days next week as strikes rumble on across Lancashire

Continuing industrial action by train drivers will halt services on Wednesday (February 1) and Friday (February 3), a move described by Northern as a "fresh disappointment" for passengers.

The company says it will be unable to run any services on those two days, with the rail network all-but paralysed across the country. 15 different rail companies are affected, included Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express as drivers who are members of either ASLEF or the RMT take action.

The strikes come just weeks after Northern introduced its new "December 22" timetable in early January which brought with it extra services across its network and has seen cancellations reduced for both on the day and planned cancellations.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “Our new timetable, which is fully resourced and agreed with the trade unions, was designed to give our operations an increased resilience – and in the first few weeks of it operating, early signs are suggesting it is doing just that.

“All we can do is apologise to our customers for the disruption this action by Aslef and the RMT will cause and hope a resolution to this dispute can be found very soon.”

Northern, the second largest train operator in the UK with nearly 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England, has been badly-hit by the strikes which began more than six months ago.