Westhoughton Sunday Services

I was just browsing for possible trips during April and May and noticed that a couple of Sundays in April (13th and 27th) have actual trains running, as do Sundays from the 4th May. I know that there is a timetable change from 18th May.

I had got used to the 2 hourly bus replacement service as part of the temporary timetable so this is an improvement but does it mean the Sunday working problems have been resolved in any way or is it just that Sunday timetables are still under review?

I managed to contact Northern as searches for Sunday journeys from the new timetable start date in May are showing a normal service, and they advised that this was correct. When I asked if the Sunday working issue had been resolved the reply was that “there are currently no ongoing disputes”.

I’m curious if this is the case or that there will be a new emergency timetable in due course…

Discussions between company and union are ongoing but no concrete offer yet.

Happy to be corrected, but can still only see fairly infrequent rail replacement buses 'serving' Westhoughton on Sunday 13th April 2025.

Yes it seems to be back to the 2 hourly bus schedule to Wigan and Bolton but then 11th May onwards planners show trains running from Wigan NW to Stalybridge and return. I wonder if this is optimistic!