Self-isolation crisis threatens a summer of chaos on the railways
TRAIN passengers face a chaotic summer after the Government signed off mass cancellations as a result of “pingdemic” staff shortages.
At least seven rail operators are planning to impose emergency timetables for up to six weeks because of a critical shortage of train drivers and crew.
One industry source said: “Cancellations galore are coming down the line.”
Downing Street last night moved to tackle the potential disruption by including some train drivers in a new mass exemptions scheme, following similar moves for the food production industry to keep store shelves stocked.
Around 100 sites in the transport and freight sector will be allowed to deploy daily Covid testing instead of self-isolation for a limited number of workers and a further 100 sites will be set up for front-line police and fire services and Border Force staff.
However, the Government’s plans were thrown into doubt after Britain’s biggest union encouraged its members to self-isolate even if exempt.
Christina Mcanea, general secretary of Unison, which has 1.4million members mainly working in the public sector, said: “Anyone pinged or called by Test and Trace should isolate. Staying at home protects colleagues, neighbours, friends and everyone else too ... no one should be forced into work when isolating, even employees on the exempt list.” Roughly 5 per cent of train drivers, an estimated 1,250 people, are understood to be absent, with the majority having been alerted by the NHS Test and Trace app. London Northwestern Railway said the number of its staff having to quarantine had “quadrupled”.
Dozens of routes were cut yesterday owing to lack of staff, and passengers on one train to Exeter were left stranded in Salisbury owing to crew shortages. Officials at the Department for Transport are understood to have signed off on reduced services. Industry insiders said it was necessary in order to “make the most of the reduced resources”.
“Without this, you would have the chaos of last-minute cancellations,” one source added.
George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, admitted passengers should expect more trains to be cancelled “as a consequence of staff absence”.
“We recognise that’s a reality over these next few weeks,” Mr Eustice told the BBC.
The new timetables will run for four to six weeks on Northern, Avanti, Great Western Railway, West Midlands Railway, Govia Thameslink and LNER. Southern will cut its weekday timetables on five routes from Monday “until further notice”, while South Western Railway made “pre-emptive changes to some services this weekend”.
Transport for London said the Circle and Hammersmith and City Tube lines would be closed this weekend as more than 300 staff self-isolate. There will also be changes to services on the District and Metropolitan lines.
One Tory former transport minister called on the Government to let all train staff conduct daily tests immediately rather than self-isolate.
“None of this makes any sense. Either we’re confident in the vaccines or we’re not,” the former transport minister,
‘Having public transport halt because of an app that behaves strangely at the best of times is utterly daft’
who asked not to be named, told The Daily Telegraph. “Having our public transport system grind to a halt because of an app that appears to behave strangely at the best of times is utterly daft.”
A government source working on transport policy stressed capacity on train lines was only around 45 per cent of normal levels given the pandemic, minimising the impact of disruptions.
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, said: “Some of our colleagues are having to self-isolate after being pinged and this means trains have to be cancelled, sometimes at short notice. The exemption scheme may help reduce extreme disruption but it won’t stop cancellations.”