THE Barrow and Furness MP is demanding new rolling stock for the Furness line after data showed more than a quarter of journeys are delayed or cancelled at Barrow station.

Data released by Network Rail and analysed by the Sunday Times showed railway stations in Cumbria to be among the worst in the country for delays and cancellations, with those for Barrow station standing at 27.46 per cent.

John Woodcock MP said: “These figures reveal a shockingly bad service and they illustrate what passengers have been having to endure.

“They underscore the need for our stretch of railway to be the first in line when freshly-minted rolling stock becomes available. People are fed up with delays, cancellations and excuses.

"Northern has said it aims to deliver a programme of modernisation and as far as Furness line passengers are concerned that cannot come soon enough. The company needs to give an undertaking that when new locomotives and carriages become available they will be heading for our part of the network.”

Read more: Survey shows improvement still needed for Furness rail services

In response to the state of Barrow and Furness transport infrastructure, Mr Woodcock is in the process of re-launching the Cumbria Better Connected campaign - an initiative he first unveiled in 2012.

Five years ago the aim of the campaign was to retain direct services between Barrow and Manchester. Now, with fresh challenges to meet, Mr Woodcock is reforming the initiative with plans for the group to meet during the first week in September.

The MP was in part motivated by the realisation that a new owner might need to be found for GSK's Ulverston plant after the company announced on July 23 that it would no longer follow through with a £350m extension at its site.

Mr Woodcock has said that potential investors from elsewhere would be disinclined to become involved if they knew there was little prospect of the area's "woeful" transport links being improved.

Read more: Get a sneak peek of the new trains which will replace ramshackle carriages on Cumbria's railway network

A spokesman for Northern said: “We have outlined our commitment to introduce new and refurbished trains across our network and to modernise our stations to provide a rail service fit for the 21st Century.

“From December 2019 everyone travelling on the Northern network will benefit from brand new or completely refurbished ‘as new’ trains through our multi-million-pound fleet investment. This will allow us to operate a timetable with improved connectivity and direct through services to major centres from the region and, undoubtedly, encourage greater use of our services going forward.

“In the meantime it is important that we deliver a consistent service both on our trains and at stations to ensure we provide our customers with the service they deserve and provide them with confidence to use our services.

“We want our customers to experience a consistently high quality service from the moment they search for a ticket, to the moment they reach their end destination and this is something that Northern is working hard to achieve.”