Travel nightmare before Christmas as omicron cases surge

Travel chaos is looming over Britain ahead of the scramble to get home for Christmas, as the new wave of omicron infections threatens to knock national rail services off schedule.

Rapidly rising Covid cases could affect train services in the coming weeks, the Rail Delivery Group, an industry body, has warned. It said rail companies may not be able to run all trains as planned.

Public transport usage slumped in early December, with daily rail journeys at just 55pc of pre- pandemic levels, according to provisional figures published by the Department for Transport.

However Bruce Williamson, of the campaign group Railfuture, warned passenger numbers for all public transport would increase ahead of Christmas: “We live in uncertain times, and the new variant has put a question mark over all journeys – including car, train and plane travel.”

The Christmas plans of Rianne Mason, a 26-year- old public relations specialist from Bristol, are now in tatters after she tested positive for Covid19. She planned to fly to France on

Christmas Eve to visit family after her isolation period ended, but British tourists have now been barred from entering the country. “I’ll try to rebook plane tickets, but they’re going to be more expensive,” she said.

Ms Mason said her sister was considering taking her place on the return flight to England instead, but it would cost £100 to change the name on the ticket booking.

Elsewhere, rail upgrades mean travellers may find their options to rebook restricted. Network Rail has announced that it will carry out upgrades across its Western region from Paddington to Penzance over the festive period.

Many rail firms are not providing a Boxing Day service this year. Silviya Barrett, of the Campaign for Better Transport, said it was unfair for works to disrupt Christmas. “Since the pandemic, the leisure market has become more active than the commuter market,” she said. “Engineering works should be scheduled at another time, not at weekends or around Christmas when people are likely to travel.”