Rail passengers in the north of England will face uncertainty and disruption to their journeys until November due to the lack of a “stable network”, industry chiefs have said.

Senior executives from the Northern rail franchise and Network Rail, under questioning by a transport watchdog on Tuesday in Manchester, admitted they were aware of the chaos a new timetable would cause two days before it was implemented.



The confirmation of continued disruption came as Northern rail passengers faced more immediate travel misery due to a fresh round of strikes called by the RMT union. In the House of Commons transport secretary Chris Grayling survived a vote of confidence tabled by Labour by 20 votes.



Tuesday’s 24-hour walkout – the latest in the long-running dispute over the issue of train guards – was due to be repeated on Thursday and Saturday. Passengers on Tuesday morning complained of overcrowded trains and insufficient rail replacement buses for rush-hour services across the north of England.



The crisis meeting in Manchester came after hundreds of services were disrupted across the Northern networks when schedules were changed on 20 May. The operator was heavily criticised for days of catastrophic delays before an emergency schedule was imposed that slashed 165 services a day.

Network Rail’s director of route sponsorship, Patrick Cawley, was asked about the progress of electrification work in the north-west of England. During an uncomfortable exchange with Jeff Halliwell – the chairman of the watchdog Transport Focus – Cawley admitted that the infrastructure for some services would not be ready until November.

Cawley said: “In September we’re looking to complete the work and we’re looking to enter into service in November – I think it’s the 10th. That’s when we’ll have the infrastructure ready.”



Earlier, Halliwell told the board meeting, attended by a range of train user groups, that the public wanted clarity on what caused the “timetable crisis”.



David Brown, Northern’s managing director, apologised for the disruption and said his firm was working hard to lift the current interim timetable. He said Northern had been “on track” to deliver the new timetable until it was revealed in January that a Network Rail project to electrify the line between Manchester and Preston was delayed.

Brown said this meant the timetable needed to be planned in just 16 weeks rather than the typical period of 40 weeks. He said Northern had asked for the national timetable change to be postponed so the previous schedule would continue, but this was turned down.

Asked to identify who was responsible for the problems, Brown said it was not his job to apportion blame. “There’s a range of independent reviews that will get to that, but the timetable that we delivered was delayed because a number of the infrastructure requirements that we need to run that timetable were delayed in themselves.

“That’s not blame, that’s just a statement of fact,” Brown added.



The meeting heard from passenger groups about the unprecedented delays, confusion and cancellations that have brought chaos to their lives.



In the Lake District, a vintage train operator that normally runs journeys for enthusiasts was forced to step in to provide rail services following the timetabling fiasco.



West Coast Railways, which runs charter trains along some of the UK’s most scenic routes, launched its first service on the Lakes line, two weeks after Northern suspended all journeys and introduced a replacement bus service.



A 40-year-old diesel engine and carriages now carry passengers free of charge along the 10-mile route from Oxenholme to Windermere six times a day.

Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnershipcalled for Transport for the North to be given full power and responsibility over Network Rail and train operators in the region.



He said: “The root cause of this was the delays to electrification works between Blackpool and Preston and in the Bolton corridor, and timetables being signed off too late for Northern Rail. This cannot be allowed to happen again. The only way to ensure it doesn’t is for the north to take control of its own destiny.”