RAIL disruption continued yesterday on a day dubbed 'Meltdown Monday' by unions after new timetables, which were introduced across 3000 services in the UK, caused severe disruptions to the rail network across East Lancashire.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the UK's busiest rail franchise, started operating a new timetable across all services on its Northern, Thameslink and Southern providers as part of the biggest rail timetable overhaul the country has ever seen.

All of Northern's routes, including lines that run from Blackburn-Manchester and Burnley-Blackpool have seen major alterations as a result of the changes, something that has sent rail users into a social media frenzy.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers said that the timetable changes could spell the end of privatised chaos on British Railways.

General Secretary of the union, Mick Cash, said: “The union is picking up reports from both Northern and GTR of a hopeless lack of planning combined with a shortage of crew and fleet, which has reduced the Monday morning journey to a nightmare for many passengers.

“Frankly I wouldn’t trust the private train operators to run a bath let alone our vital rail routes.

“After Stagecoach were kicked off the East Coast last week it’s time for the rest of these racketeers to be sent packing as well and for our railways to be run by the public sector as a public service.”

These delays, which are expected to continue throughout the week, come not even a week after the Mayor of Greater Manchester called for an official investigation into northern Rail after being bombarded with complaints about the provider.

Andy Burnham, who wrote a letter to Transport for the North (TfN) said: "What accountability exists for an operator so persistently failing in its duty to deliver a reliable, safe service?"

One commuter, who travels from Clitheroe to Manchester and back five days a week said: "It is high time something was done about this joke of a service.

"They should just give up now, it's not fair on anybody who is using the service, we have been suffering for months.

"Hopefully the fact that rail services on the East Coast Main Line are being brought back under government control is a sign of things to come for rail networks across the whole country."

The RMT have also announced that strike action will be taken on the 24 and 26 of May, meaning limited services will be running.

A GTR spokesperson said: "We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused during the initial stages of the timetable change.

“The improvements we are making will lead to a significant boost in capacity with a 13 per cent increase in services across the GTR network immediately.”