Scotland Times

Thursday, Nov 14, 2024

Hundreds of trains cancelled as Covid hits railways

Hundreds of trains cancelled as Covid hits railways

Rail services across the country are being cancelled in the run-up to Christmas as rising numbers of staff fall ill with Covid.

Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, LNER, Scotrail and West Midlands Railway have all reported cancellations.

More than 90,000 tested positive for Covid in the UK on Monday, but the true number is thought to be much higher.

In the past week 5.2% of trains were cancelled, versus an average of 2.9%, according to the Rail Delivery Group.

LNER, which runs services on the East Coast main line, is operating an amended timetable in the week before Christmas because of the number of absent drivers and train managers. Sixteen services are being cancelled each day.

The affected routes are between London King’s Cross and Leeds, and London King’s Cross and Lincoln.

A spokesperson for LNER said services were being reduced “as a result of an increase in the number of our staff self-isolating due to Covid”. It is offering customers refunds or fee-free re-booking.

In Scotland, ScotRail reported more than a hundred cancellations on Monday.

Northern, which runs services across the North of England, is also warning that passenger “services are being affected by the impacts of Covid and unavailability of train crew”. It said there could be short-notice cancellations.

South Western Railway said it had only seen a small number of alterations this week, but was closely monitoring the impact of the new Omicron variant on staff availability.

However it urged customers to check for late-notice changes, saying “as cases continue to rise, some short notice alterations may be required throughout the festive period”.

Govia Thameslink, which operates the Thameslink, Great Northern and Southern franchises, said it may also have to cancel services at short notice due to high numbers of staff off sick with Covid and other seasonal illnesses.

It said staff were also taking time off after receiving booster jabs.

Staff absences


The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators across the UK, said its members had reported that 8.7% of their staff were off sick due to all causes including Covid.

That figure stood at 7.6% a month ago. Though the increase may sound small, train operators only have limited contingencies for absences before they have to start cancelling services.

The RMT union, which represents transport workers, said that with infections rising, absences would have severe consequences for services, but the safety of staff and the public must come first.

Avanti West Coast is another operator experiencing staff shortages and warning of short-notice cancellations. It has removed all peak restrictions over Christmas, to try to spread out demand.

West Midlands Railway has also said fewer trains are running. In addition to rising rates of Covid among staff, the operator’s website also advises that its driver training programme has been severely disrupted by the virus and social distancing constraints. This has resulted in trainees taking longer to qualify.

CrossCountry is also warning of train crew shortages and disruption. It is advising passengers to travel as early as possible.

Great Western Railway said it was seeing increasing absence rates, and some disruption of its services. Judging by reservations, it expects Thursday to be the busiest day of the week.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Scotland Times
0:00
0:00
Close
UK Island Orkney council to look at proposals to become territory of Norway
Woman Awarded Over £100,000 After Being Fired for Transgender Tweet
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
A Real woman
Brand new security footage has just been released to the public showing the Active shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale drove to Covenant Church School in her Honda Fit this morning, parked, and shot her way into the building
China's foreign ministry branch in Hong Kong urges British gov't to stop the biased and double standards Hong Kong report
Double standards: UK lawmakers attack EU chief over Ireland claims
Democracy? Not for UK. UK PM rejects Scottish independence referendum, cancel democracy in BVI
UK urged to brace for economic storm
Women's own body dissatisfaction appears to influence their judgment of other women's body sizes
Prince William To Move Family Into Cottage Near Queen Elizabeth II
BOOOOOOS: Tony Blair receives royal honour
Captured Britons sentenced to death in Ukraine
Barbados PM Mia A. Mottley among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People
Today's headlines
"Just One Of the Boys In School:" Years That Shaped Prince Charles
BVI Premier Rubbishes Claim Of Causing COI Delay
Comments on "Human Intelligence in a Digital Age" - A brilliant Speech by MI6 Chief Richard Moore, and the elephants neglected in the room
Bitcoin: BoE Deputy Gov wants to cancel democracy and protect the banks with regulations which infringe on people’s freedom, independence and benefits they get from their own money.
What are the Pandora Papers?
Taiwan-China relations at their 'worst in 40 years'
The attempt to hold Epik.com accountable for the content of its clients' websites is like blaming Gutenberg for the NYT's fake news that dragged the US into the pointless war against the nuclear weapons Iraq never had
×