RAIL replacement buses were back on the streets of Blackburn yesterday after several services to Bolton were cancelled.

As small number of early morning trains failed to run because of overrunning engineering works on the line between the two towns.

A Northern spokesman said yesterday: "We had to cancel a small number of services between Blackburn and Bolton in the early morning because of over-running engineering works from the previous night.

"We always try to provide a rail replacement bus is a train fails to run in these circumstances."

Passengers can expect the rail replacement buses to be back in action on some Northern routes on Saturday when the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union plans to hold the first of three strikes. The other two are scheduled for September 1 and 8.