THE first day of the new train timetable promised much for Warrington passengers.

More services were promised from Warrington Central to Manchester and Liverpool with the reintroduction of an hourly service to Cleethorpes, running through Warrington and Birchwood.

But a lack of staff from operators TransPennine Express (TPE) led to a 'challenging' first day on Monday.

The company said there has been a 'huge amount of training' to complete which also led to a backlog.

The first six TPE services from Warrington to Manchester didn’t run with the two trains in the evening peak from Liverpool cancelled

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Just three of 11 services to Liverpool ran including only one of the three in the evening peak from Manchester (some cancelled entirely, some turned round at Manchester).

Passengers are advised to travel on Tuesday or Wednesday due to RMT strike action.

Cllr Steve Parish (LAB Chapelford and Old Hall) said it was a 'disastrous' day.

He added: “TPE say they have recruited enough drivers to cover the service, but I think we can assume that, like the East Midlands service from Norwich via Sheffield, these trains may not always be punctual. Oddly, because the Sunday trains will not call at Irlam and Urmston, Warrington West will get a better service on Sundays than during the week."

A spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: “Our new timetable brings with it a number of enhancements for customers as outlined by the Manchester Recovery Task Force process. These enhancements include the extension of the Cleethorpes – Manchester service to Liverpool via Warrington, direct Hull – Liverpool services and the extension of all Manchester Airport – Redcar Central services through to Saltburn. Through the new timetable we have also begun the phased reintroduction of services on the West Coast Main Line.

“The work to prepare for these changes has involved a huge amount of training over the past year, significantly greater than for any other train operator in our region. Alongside this, a further significant training programme has been necessary to allow our traincrew to work on the diversionary routes needed to support the delivery of TransPennine Route Upgrade works during 2023.

“To help deliver resilience, and to allow training to take place alongside the running of passenger services, we have worked hard to recruit more traincrew to the business and currently have 507 active drivers – more than TPE has ever had. However, we continue to experience traincrew availability issues as a result of continued high levels of sickness – which has seen a significant spike in recent days – and the unprecedented training backlog.

“As a result of these factors, the delivery of the timetable will be challenging from the outset and customers may experience disruption to their journeys. Where cancellations and amendments are necessary, we will ensure these are communicated quickly and clearly.”