Northern warning to passengers about New Year’s travel

Train operator Northern has issued updated travel advice for journeys over the New Year period and early January, with changes to timetables and planned engineering works set to impact services.

On New Year’s Eve, most trains will follow weekday timetables, but services will end earlier than usual, with last departures scheduled for around 9pm.

Services between Leeds and York, as well as Leeds and Selby, will be replaced by buses due to improvement works.

Matt Rice, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “Whilst fewer people are travelling, Network Rail will be carrying out a range of improvement works across the network, so I’d encourage customers to ‘check before you travel’ to see if your journey is affected.”

On New Year’s Day, trains will start running later in the morning and then move to a normal Thursday timetable across much of the network, though services in the North East will remain suspended for the day.

However, Northern has confirmed the return of a special limited-stop service to Whitby on New Year’s Day.

The transport operator also warned of continued disruption throughout January as part of long-term upgrades to the rail network.

Sections of the Northern network will see diversions and bus replacements due to ongoing works.

One of the main affected routes is the Leeds to York line via Micklefield, which is part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.

Northern operates 2,650 services daily across more than 500 stations in the North of England.

Travel updates and engineering information for the festive period are available on their website.