A FRESH wave of railway strikes is set to create more misery for East Lancashire commuters on Wednesday.

Only 20 per cent of Northern’s railway services will be running following a dispute with the railway company.

There is a limited service running between Blackpool North and Burnley as well as a limited service from Manchester to Bolton and Blackburn.

There are bis replacement services between Bolton, Blackburn and Clitheroe and Hebden Bridge to Blackburn.

Conductors say they want a strong ‘commitment’ from the railway firm who are attempting to ‘modernise’ services and have 50 per cent of services running driver-only operation trains and remove guards on Northern services.

Around 40 conductors will protest against the plans outside Blackburn Station from 7am on Wednesday, the 11th day of industrial action.

Daren Ireland, the regional organiser for RMT, said: “All of our members will be striking against the franchise.

“I believe the passengers deserve the same level of safety with these conductors and people who have disabilities.

“The conductors can deal with incidents that may jeopardise people’s safety when travelling at times of the day when you’re on your own. The company has been belligerent in its nature.”

When asked if passengers grow frustrated with the strikes because of the impact to their journeys to work, Mr Ireland said: “We find the vast majority of passengers are extremely supportive.”

Sharon Keith, regional director at Northern, said: “We are doing all we can to keep customers on the move on November 8 and will run over 1,300 services on our busier routes between 0700 and 1900. This is our highest service level yet on an RMT strike day.