Railway getaway chaos
Omicron haunts London’s deserted streets
Passengers are hit by cancellations as outbreaks cut crews
THOUSANDS of travellers face uncertain journeys home for Christmas after the railways were plunged into chaos by Covid outbreaks.
Passengers face being crammed into carriages in the coming days due to reduced timetables caused by staff shortages, raising concerns of a rise in virus transmission.
Train companies have blamed the wave of cancellations on staff sickness and isolation requirements, with almost 9 per cent of staff absent in the past week.
On Monday, 13 per cent of UK trains were either cancelled or delayed. More than one in 20 trains were cancelled in the seven days before Monday, up from the annual average of 2.9 per cent.
Operators yesterday pleaded with travellers to book on to earlier services, while warning of lastminute cancellations in the days ahead. The Government’s work-from-home guidance and fears over the Omicron variant have led to a significant reduction in passenger numbers in recent days.
Over the past week, train journeys were only at 53 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, down from 70 per cent in the week to 24 November when the omicron variant first emerged. Greater Anglia, which operates trains in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Lonstation, don, said it had temporarily scrapped some services due to falling passenger numbers.
But travel bosses are expecting a surge in numbers on some crosscountry services over the coming days as people travel to be with their families for Christmas. London North Eastern Railway this week cancelled 16 daily services between London’s King’s Cross Lincoln and Leeds. It hoped this would allow it to protect the rest of its timetable, but warned of cancellations due to staff shortages on the day of services.
And CrossCountry, which operates routes between major cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Leeds, warned of ‘major disruption’ this week. It said: ‘Please pull your journey forward to sooner rather than later to get to your end destination as early as possible.’ Avanti West Coast, which connects cities in England and Scotland, warned: ‘The pandemic is unfortunately resulting in some staff shortages. We’re doing everything we can to run our full timetable but there may be some shortnotice cancellations.’
Thameslink yesterday blamed staff shortages for cancellations between Brighton and Cambridge and between Horsham and Peterborough. And Govia Thameslink Railway said a train crew shortfall means there will be a reduced service across the Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern network until the end of Christmas Eve.
One of the worst affected operators is ScotRail, which scrapped 118 services on Monday partly due to large-scale staff absences.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents operators, explained that ‘at a time when, like other industries, our colleagues are being affected by the Omicron variant, this means some trains will be cancelled at short notice and we apologise sincerely for this’.