Christmas shopping goes off the rails for Southport

21st November 2018

Rail misery continues to strike at passengers shoppers and commuters in Southport thanks to Northern Rail, after it was announced that all trains to Manchester from Wigan will be cancelled for the next three weekends.

That means, of course, that anyone wanting to travel to the city on the already beleaguered Southport to Manchester line will be forced to get off the train in Wigan and hop onto a bus to continue their journey.

With Manchester’s popular Christmas Market in full swing, it’s yet another bitter pill to swallow for passengers. Network Rail have planned for a major engineering upgrade to take place on the line on Saturday, November 24, Saturday, December 1 and Saturday, December 8 which will mean closing the line between Wigan Wallgate and Manchester.

One passenger fumed: “I wanted to go to the Christmas markets in Manchester but there is no point. I may as well stay in Southport and take my chances in the three shops we have left.”