THE COMPANY behind Bolton’s trains has apologised after passengers were left waiting at Hall i’ th’ Wood Station yesterday.

Travellers waiting for the train to Rochdale at 7.49am were told the service had been cancelled, despite it stopping at other stations before and after Hall i’ th’ Wood.

The Clitheroe to Rochdale train is popular with commuters because it stops at Salford Crescent, Salford Central and Manchester Victoria.

A Northern spokesman said the train was cancelled because of “overcrowding” and put the issue down to a lack of carriages.

They said: “We apologise to customers who experienced overcrowding on our service between Clitheroe and Rochdale; we appreciate how frustrating service issues and overcrowding can be. We always seek to use all available carriages. However, this is a particularly popular route and, due to a shortage of available carriages this morning, our services were extremely busy.

“Through our ongoing improvement programme, we are working to create more space on our trains and, during 2019, we will introduce our brand new trains worth £500m and continue to upgrade the rest of our existing trains. This work will include the removal of Pacers.”

Ongoing problems with overcrowding and cancellations have hit Northern passengers particularly hard since a disastrous timetable change in May 2018.

A new fleet which was originally planned to enter service last year, will debut on railways in the north of England later this year.

This includes new electric trains which will run on electrified lines once long-term engineering work is completed.