THE newly launched winter train timetable has had little impact on the Furness Line due to it already working at capacity, says Northern.

The already hectic schedule meant that minimal changes could be made to this line on Sunday.

In contrast to previous timetable changes on the Lakes and Furness Lines passengers travelling to and from Barrow have seen little or no impact.

A Northern spokesman said: “The new timetable for Northern has performed well.

"The small number of delays and cancellations are due to operational issues including crew sickness, signalling and train faults.”

Alongside the new timetables, Northern continues to introduce brand-new trains with more than 50 expected to be serving customers by the end of the year.

Chris Jackson, regional director at Northern, said: “Our December timetable change will give us the opportunity to look where we can make improvements to the timings of our services – and use this to bring more reliability and stability for our customers.

“We will not be making wholesale changes, but will amend many timetables, so our customers need to plan carefully for travel after 15 December.

“We already have more than 30 new trains out on the network and a further 20 will be introduced by the end of the year, giving even more customers a step-change in their journey experience.

"Our new trains – which represent a £500m investment in rail in the north of England – are more spacious than our current vehicles and all feature Wi-Fi, air conditioning and at-seat charging.”