Unclear when reduced Sunday rail service will end

A rail service says it is unclear when it will stop a reduced Sunday service it has been running since late last year.

Northern has been running fewer services in north-west England every Sunday since 22 December 2024, because it has not been able to find enough conductors to work those days.

The firm's managing director Tricia Williams told a Transport for the North Meeting on Tuesday the reduced service was "not what we all want" but did offer customers "predictability".

Northern said it was still negotiating with National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) over Sunday working. RMT confirmed discussions were ongoing.

The firm has previously said the problem it faced on Sundays was it was contractually outside the working week for North West conductors.

Affected services include routes from Barrow and Windermere to Manchester Airport, and from Barrow to Carlisle.

Ms Williams said the reduced service currently relied on volunteers.

"The success criteria for us is about achieving a truly seven-day railway," she said.

She said the aim for the company was to ensure no more than 2% of services were being cancelled by the end of 2027 and that 90% of trains arrived within three minutes of schedule.

RMT said it was conducting "detailed discussions with Northern Trains to bring together working practices for conductors from three legacy companies into a single, modern agreement".

"The talks aim to ensure consistency, reflect advances in technology, and support reliable services throughout the week", a spokesperson said.

Any proposals would be subject to government approval, they added.

It follows Northern being issued a breach notice by the Department for Transport (DfT) in July 2024 for cancelling too many trains.

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