PASSENGERS have expressed their anger and frustration at the cancellation and overcrowding of trains from Malton station describing them as “cattle trucks”.

Over the last couple of weeks a number of trains have been cancelled due to a lack of drivers and conductors, while Transpennine Express’ new Nova train, which has been serving York and Malton, has also been withdrawn due to a software fault. The trains had been introduced in recent months, replacing older, smaller rolling stock.

Norton resident Bryan Barratt said he had been forced to stand between carriages both to and from Malton to York.

“Overcrowded wasn’t the word,” he said. “It was like being in a cattle truck.”

Other passengers reported trains being cancelled at the last minute.

Malton Cllr Graham Lake said: “Last Thursday’s 15.21 train cancelled from Leeds to Malton because there was no driver or conductor.

“It’s disgraceful and no apologies given by Transpennine.”

A spokesman for TransPennine Express said: “We have had to cancel a number of services and we are really sorry for the inconvenience that this will no doubt have caused.

“We are currently running an accelerated training programme for our drivers and conductors as we prepare to roll out our new fleet over the coming weeks, which unfortunately has impacted some services.

“Whilst this is extremely challenging for our customers and colleagues, it is necessary to ensure we introduce our new trains and increase capacity.”

The spokesman added: “During maintenance and fault-finding on one of our new Nova 3 train sets, we discovered a software issue and as a precaution we have decided to hold the trains on depot until the issue is fixed.

“We are now working with our manufacturer CAF on the development, testing and validation of the necessary software update and expect to bring our Nova 3 trains back into service shortly.”