Response to concerns from Levenshulme and Heaton Chapel customers

"If the electrification had been completed on time we would have been able to release diesel trains from the Bolton line to serve other parts of the North West and enable more services to run."

Liam added: "Although there will be a reduction in off-peak services to Manchester from Levenshulme and Heaton Chapel, in the morning peak there will be the same number of Manchester-bound services in the new timetable as there are at the moment.

“As disappointing as the reduction in off-peak services is, we believe there will be sufficient capacity on the three trains that will continue to run each hour to serve both Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme.

“We are currently working to fully mitigate for any complications the new timetable may create. Crowd management is one of these considerations and we are devising plans to deal with the potential for large numbers of people on the platforms and at the stations.

"It is too early to pre-empt what these plans may look like, but we will continue to work with our partners in the rail industry, and the local community, to ensure our customers are fully informed.”