Northern Rail has apologised after the introduction of a new timetable caused widespread disruption.

Complaints have soared since the new schedule was introduced last week.

One commuter, John Walton, who has used the Todmorden to Bradford train for two decades said he had never known anything like last week’s problems. Mr Walton said: “This has been the worst week’s travel I’ve ever had. The new timetable came in on Monday and it doesn’t seem to be working. There are missing trains, major delays – its an utter shambles.

“Last week there was only one day where they ran on time both ways.

“One day I got into Bradford 65 minutes late, another day 39 minutes late. On top of that the address system at Todmorden has been down and there don’t seem to be any announcements. On one occasion we stood and watched our train zoom past, empty.”

On another occasion, he said, passengers who boarded a train were told to get off, moved to another platform and then had to move again.

A spokesman for Northern Rail said: “Northern’s new timetable began on December 14. Since then the majority of our services have run on time, but unfortunately we have had to cancel trains due to short-term operational problems.

“We apologise to customers for the inconvenience this has caused and we are working hard to return to high levels of punctuality and reliability.”

West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority, Metro said it had spoken to Northern Rail about the recent timetable issues and problems.