TransPennine Express restoring four fast trains per hour between Manchester and Leeds

TransPennine Express is restoring its four express an hour service between Manchester Victoria and Leeds from next month.

As part of the December timetable change, the fast services will run every 15 minutes instead of every 30, a year after services were scaled back.

Castleford, Normanton and Wakefield will also have a new hourly service to Manchester and Leeds. Currently, it runs every two hours. Other changes include two services an hour between Liverpool and Manchester Victoria, an hourly service for Chester-le-Street and an hourly service at Eaglescliffe, with the majority of Liverpool-Cleethorpes services being six carriages long.

TransPennine Express has said the changes will lead to an additional 1,300 seats a day.

The operator had previously promised a full timetable return from December after scaling back its timetable last winter, going from 320 daily services to just under 300, as it struggled to get to grips with driver training and crew availability as well as a need to look at operational issues that had complicated service delivery.