TRAIN services have been extended from Clitheroe to Rochdale amid Northern Rail travel chaos.

Northern Rail passengers who have previously travelled from Clitheroe to Manchester Victoria via Bolton are now able to journey to Rochdale, which is 13 miles north of Manchester Victoria station, and three other stations near Manchester.

Nearly 20 services a day are scheduled to run from Clitheroe to Rochdale, which passes through Whalley, Langho, Ramsgreave and Wilpshire, Blackburn and Darwen, and it is expected to take passengers one hour and 40 minutes to travel end-to-end.

Following Northern Rail's timetable change on May 20, the trains will pass through three stations near Manchester - Moston, Mills Hill and Castleton stations - as part of the extended route.

Bosses at Northern have said they will provide 'more travel options for customers' and 'free space' for other services at Manchester Victoria, which has become increasingly congested following the timetable change.

A spokesman for Northern said: “In the May timetable change we introduced an extension to the Clitheroe – Manchester Victoria service which now runs through to Rochdale.

“This not only gives more travel options to our customers, it also makes excellent use of the new platform and infrastructure at Rochdale, freeing some space for other services at Manchester Victoria.”

Northern announced a temporary change to its timetable on June 1 in an attempt to reduce hundreds of last minute cancellations, which had occurred following the May timetable change.

The interim timetable, which was introduced on June 4, is not expected to significantly affect travel on the Clitheroe to Rochdale line, a Northern spokesman confirmed.

The spokesman added: “During the current interim timetable there may be some changes to services between Victoria and Rochdale. All details of any changes can be found on the Northern website or at National Rail Enquiries.”

Ribble Valley council leader Ken Hind said the route changes were not a 'priority' and instead wanted to see an increase in the frequency of trains from Clitheroe to Manchester.

Since December last year trains from Manchester to Blackburn via Bolton have been running every half and hour from 9am to 5pm on Monday to Fridays.