RAIL passengers will be reading today’s special report about more delays and disruption and shaking their heads in disbelief.

Or perhaps not.

For years, passengers travelling between Bolton and Manchester have had a rough time of it, packed into train carriages like sardines during rush hour and having to endure late and unreliable services.

This year, passengers faced some of the worst disruption imaginable when a national timetable change came off the rails. The light at the end of the tunnel has long been the promise of new, faster and more reliable services with the electrification of the network.

This project is almost two years behind schedule in Bolton and was to be introduced at the end of this year.

Now, when the electrification work is due to be complete on November 4, the service will be hit by strikes in an ongoing dispute about removing guards from trains.

During industrial action, Northern expects to run about one-third of its services.

It wants the RMT union to suspend the strikes and resume negotiations.

There is still work to be done and the full benefits of the electrification programme will not be felt by Bolton passengers until May next year.

Beleaguered commuters may not be surprised by the latest developments but they will be fed up with more disruption.