PASSENGERS in Furness have been warned they will face "another difficult year" on the railways.

MPs claimed there is still "a way to go" before public sector body Network Rail and train operating companies collaborate in a way that minimises disruption during infrastructure projects.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said passengers and taxpayers "risk continuing to pay the price" for the failure of the Department for Transport (DfT) to improve its "strategic management" of the railway.

The report described how there were "unacceptable levels of disruption" last year.

In Furness timetable changes caused havoc on the lines.

As the changes were brought about in May, students travelling to Ulverston Victoria High School from Barrow were stranded at the station after the timetable changes meant students had to travel 30 minutes earlier arriving around 8am.

A number of trains were also cancelled.

One day last year saw people hoping to travel to Cartmel Races stuck at Barrow as services going south were cancelled and replaced by taxis.

Steve Nott, a representative for the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union in Furness said: "Rumours abound that Northern are going to struggle to implement once again the planned timetable improvements for May, the passengers in the north are once again going to suffer with the fare increases already piled upon them in January whilst still reeling from the disruption the May 2018 timetable caused as the company continues to have issues operating the current timetable particularly on Sundays for example.

"This is a wholly unacceptable situation for the fare paying passenger.

"This only strengthens the RMTs argument that privatisation does not work and that public ownership is the only model that will improve things for the travelling public.

A DfT spokesman said disruption experienced last summer was "unacceptable" and said the lessons learned helped to deliver timetable changes in December."