ONE of the main railway links from Bolton was closed yesterday as engineers worked frantically to check rails at Lostock following the Hatfield crash.

The line from Bolton to Preston was closed while the Railtrack workmen also inspected track at Euxton on the West Coast line as part of massive emergency maintenance in the country.

Since services from Chorley to Preston run on the West Coast line, the work had a knock-on effect and Railtrack advised diversions be put in place, affecting Bolton passengers too.

A Railtrack spokesman said: "The work was part of the huge efforts being made by the company in light of Hatfield and Paddington."

The news appeared not to have filtered down to the individual affected stations, however. The First North Western server at the ticket booth in Bolton said yesterday: "Nobody knows what's going on. We were only told about it this morning."

Most passengers heading for stations to Preston had to board a bus from outside Trinity Street station.

The bus took 1 hour 20 minutes instead of the 35 minute train time.

However, some trains were running, which created even more confusion for passengers.

One person boarding the rail replacement bus said: "It's just a joke. They seem to have no idea what is going on. They suddenly decide that all this work needs to be done. If it wasn't safe before, why have they waited till people died before they do work."

Called the biggest rail blitz for a century by embattled Railtrack managers, train operators implemented emergency timetables across the country's network as 20,000 maintenance workers started checking and replacing worn-out track.

Trains arriving at Bolton and going onto Edinburgh and Aberdeen were late by 90 minutes.

And passengers facing long delays on journeys since the Hatfield crash near London, in which four were killed and injured more than 30 injured, have been warned the problem will get worse before it gets better.

The line to Manchester Airport will be closed overnight all this week from 12.20am to 4.55am while gangs of workmen check the line.

Angry passengers appear to be losing faith in the railway service.

Yesterday lunchtime, it was not hard to find disgruntled passengers.

David and Rina Waddington, aged 29 and 27, of Marld Crescent, Johnson Fold, are putting in an official complaint after a trip to the Blackpool illuminations was ruined by an overcrowded train.

David's two children, Alex, aged two, and Julie-Marie, three, had to stand all the way to Blackpool crushed into the luggage compartment with no toilet facilities.

Mr Waddington said: "It was my children's first ever trip on a train. Three trains were cancelled before our train, which only had two carriages. It was horrible. I am absolutely furious. The whole system is in a mess."

Solicitor John Carr, 38, and wife Julie, 32, of Barbara Street, Daubhill, were sitting on a train with their five children waiting to go for Sunday lunch at a relative's home in Manchester.

The driver of the train had failed to turn up and they were left stranded in the station.

Mr Carr, who travels to Manchester every day for work, said: "It's a morale problem with the staff. I think they have just given up.

"I take four trains a day to go to work and back and perhaps one day out of five is problem free. The other four days there is always a delay or cancellation."

Engineers have so far identified 2,000 rails across the country with cracks and damage.

Meanwhile Railtrack contractor First Engineering has revealed it has recruited engineers from Romania to help rebuild the rail network in the North-west because of a shortage of skilled British engineers.

The new engineers, who will be certified by Railtrack before beginning work, are due to arrive in the new year.