Affected services include Lancashire, Liverpool and Manchester, with travellers advised to check online before leaving their homes.

A spokesperson for Northern said: ‘Alongside the annual leave entitlements at this time of the year, we currently have unprecedented levels of sickness.

‘That means we have some pre-planned cancellations on certain lines.

‘We are sorry for any disruption customers may face. Please check our website before you travel.’

The company added that customers wanting to get home to their families will have a range of alternative options available to them including other Northern services, trains run by other operators and rail replacement road transport.

Despite promises of replacement services, some angry customers still took to social media to accuse the train company of ‘ruining Christmas’.

One person named Lon wrote: ‘Finally started feeling a bit festive after an early finish and a morning of feeling sh*te and obviously northern rail have gone and stripped me of any christmas spirit [sic]’.

Another said: ‘Literally half the trains between manchester and liverpool has been cancelled. Yo. Half the ppl r just tryina get home for xmas Get ur sh*t tg [sic]’

Northern Rail runs trains from Hull on the east coast to Blackpool in the west, serving every major city on the way.

There are replacement hourly buses operating between Liverpool Lime Street and Wigan North West.

A reduced service is running from Manchester Piccadilly and Hadfield.

A combination of reduced services and replacement buses are going between Lancaster and Morecambe.

Earlier in December, customers called for Northern to be stripped of its franchise in a protest after figures from the Office of Rail and Road showed that only 56% of Northern services were on time in the last quarter.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: ‘We are developing contingency plans for the replacement of the current franchise with either a new short-term management contract with Northern or the operator of last resort.’

Elsewhere over the festive season, London Paddington station is closed from Tuesday until Saturday due to Network Rail carrying out track and overhead wiring improvements at Southall, as well as Crossrail upgrades.

Around 386 engineering projects are being carried out across Britain’s rail network over the Christmas period.