RAILWAY bosses say delayed and cancelled trains were not the result of a nationwide timetable change.

Northern implemented a new set of services today to coincide with switches across the country but large numbers of passengers complained after their journeys were disrupted.

Around 38 early morning services across the region were cancelled, including some trips running through Blackburn from the Blackpool North line and Clitheroe.

Many passengers took to social media to post images of packed trains or busy platforms.

Edward Robinson added: "It would be news if there was no rail disruption, not the other way round."

While another passenger, David Southern, said: "Since it got colder it's been farcical, it's an achievement to be on time."

The disruption came on the same day as a timetable change which saw a number of trains across the country run at different times and to different stations.

However, Northern Rail refuted claims this was because of a timetable change.

A spokesman for the company said: "Of the 2,800 Northern services a day, very few have seen any changes as a result of the timetable coming in today.

"Services that have changed are generally performing well. The relatively small number of delays and cancellations are due to operational issues including driver sickness, signalling failure and train faults."

Northern maintained that any problems were down to commonly experienced "operational issues" rather than the timetable shift and it is true that Northern has made relatively few alterations to its services this year.