Transport bosses are appealing to people to work from home during a strike which will force Northern Rail to axe half of it services.

During the 24-hour action by guards and drivers on Monday, the operator expects to run around 980 services, or 40 per cent of its normal timetable.

For passengers, it will mean both reduced routes and fewer trains across the north of England. Manchester’s travel bosses are so concerned they are asking commuters to consider working from home.

The Northern franchise operates local commuter and rural services across Greater Manchester and long-distance services linking major cities and towns such as Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, York, Bradford, Preston and Blackpool.

Commuters should expect carriages to be extremely busy and are advised to allow extra time - or avoid travelling all together.

It is expected to have a knock-on effect on Greater Manchester’s roads - with gridlock forecast on key commuter routes.

In a bid to soften the blow, Greater Manchester travel bosses have added an extra 1,600 Metrolink seats per hour during peak times on key lines, as well as boosting staff on trams and bus stations. They are ploughing resources into traffic monitoring and working with highways to suspend roadworks where possible.

Richard Allan, Deputy Managing Director at Northern, run by Arriva Rail North, said they were focused on maintaining services on their busier routes between 7am and 7pm. Some routes would have replacement buses.

Asking for people only to travel where necessary, he added: “We are acutely aware of the important role that Northern plays in keeping the north of England moving.”

To mitigate the impact, the operator plans to shift 100 managers to conductor duties.

Transport for Greater Manchester is also taking action to ease congestion - but warn problems are expected.

They are asking travellers to consider altering the time of their journey or working from home.

The walkout follows a row over maintaining guards on trains. The RMT union said the dispute was ‘all about putting public safety before private profit’.

Northern said ‘modernisation proposals’ were at an early stage and its aim was to reach a constructive resolution.

But the RMT has said the adjusted timetable comes at the ‘price of passenger safety’.

General secretary Mick Cash added: “This dispute was entirely preventable if the company had listened to the union’s deep-seated safety concerns, had taken them seriously, stuck to their earlier commitments and had put passenger safety before profit.

“The company’s intransigence has forced our hand and given us no option but to announce industrial action. The disruption to services on Monday will be entirely down to Arriva Rail North reneging on their earlier commitments.

“The union remains available for genuine and meaningful talks and we expect the company to take up that offer as a matter of urgency.”

Industrial action comes as Northern prepares to introduce 281 new carriages and 2,000 extra services a week.

To keep up to date with changes go to tfgm.com/industrial-action and northernrailway.co.uk/industrial-action