UK train services cut due to Covid staff absences

 

Further cuts to train timetables have been made in response to Covid-related staff shortages.

South Western Railway (SWR) said it was running 28% fewer weekday trains from Monday, compared with pre-pandemic levels, due to staff absences caused largely by the Omicron Covid variant.

The Rail Delivery Group's latest figure for rail staff absences is at 11%.

Avanti West Coast, c2c, and East Midlands Railway have also reduced services from Monday.

Rising Covid case numbers have led to large numbers of people self-isolating and being unable to go to work, which has acutely affected industries where staffs are unable to work from home many business listings.

Rail passenger numbers have also dropped due to more people working from home, which has resulted in operators cutting the number of services on offer.

· West Coast trains cut due to staff Covid absences

·Rail services cut due to 'Covid pressures'

SWR said its move to a temporary emergency timetable would enable the operator to "match capacity and demand effectively", and reduce the need for short-notice changes.

It has not given a date for when the timetable will change back.

Meanwhile, c2c's website says that as well as improving reliability given increased staff sickness rates, the timetable it has introduced until further notice will also "enable [it] to save taxpayer money, as passenger demand has fallen significantly in recent weeks".

Avanti West Coast said it would only run one train per hour in both directions on each of its routes connecting London Euston with Birmingham, Glasgow, and Manchester. The company said the reduced timetable was set to remain in place until 25 February.

Train companies including ScotRail, CrossCountry, and LNER have previously announced reduced timetables and warned passengers of cancellations.

Elsewhere, Merseyrail has said all of its lines will change to a 30-minute service from Monday until further notice. East Midlands Railway has also cut its timetable by about 4%.

Greater Anglia changed its timetable to Sunday-style levels of services in response to fewer passengers traveling but has since added more services after feedback from passengers.

The reduction in services has led to union RMT warning it would oppose "any attempt to use this crisis to cynically bulldoze through permanent cuts to services and staffing levels".

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the current situation had exposed "existing shortages of staff and shows just how the transport companies have been winging it ‎on the cheap for years".

"That has to stop," he said.

"With talk of work from home and other restrictions being lifted imminently, this is the time to be planning for the future of the railway not smuggling in permanent restrictions."

The Rail Delivery Group said reduced timetables were providing more reliable services, with cancellations at 2.1% across all operators - below the average of 3%.

The government has reduced the minimum self-isolation period for people testing positive for Covid-19 in England to five full days from Monday. People will need to produce negative lateral flow tests on days five and six of their isolation business listings.

The transport sector is not the only area affected by staff absences, with worker shortages also hitting retailers and hospitality firms.

The company says it will be reviewing its new timetable weekly

Trains from London to Manchester will only run once an hour from Monday as rail operators cut services aiming to make their services more "reliable".

Avanti West Coast usually schedules three trains an hour from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly.

The change is expected to last until February 25 with a weekly review.

Fifteen percent of its services were canceled during December due to staff shortages caused by the rise of the Omicron variant.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reports that passenger numbers on these services have dropped to around 40% of pre-pandemic levels.

In recent weeks other rail operators in the region have reduced services to cope with staff shortages.

Metrolink has also prepared a reduced timetable for its trams though the firm believes it has passed the peak of staff absences.

'Right thing to do'

Avanti West Coast's regional growth manager, Charlie French, said: "The passenger numbers are much lower so we are comfortable that one train an hour can accommodate those customers traveling.

"It's not great news, but it's the right thing to do, we feel, to give that reliability of service."

As well as the hourly service from London to Manchester via Stoke, there will be four additional trains each way every day via Crewe calling at Wilmslow.

TransPennine introduced an amended timetable on Monday to cope with sickness absence among train crews which is still around 18%.

Passenger numbers have fallen to 51% of pre-pandemic levels had returned to between 75% and 85% before the latest wave of the virus.

Northern implemented a new timetable on 4 January - although it has not been hit by Covid-related staff absences as much as other operators have.

On occasions, more than a quarter of staff at some depots has been off sick, though the Covid-related absence rate across the company is 3.9%.

EMR said the changes were also partly due to a drop in customer demand free business listings.

The main rail operator in the East Midlands has said it will cut some services due to Covid pressures.

East Midlands Railway (EMR) said the reductions were a result of high Covid-related staff absences and a fall in customer demand.

Some routes axed last June, which were due to be reinstated on 3 January, have also been canceled.

EMR said the new timetable, reduced by about 4%, would come into effect from Monday.

It said the "most popular" services would be unaffected, but others "removed or amended until further notice".

Check journeys

The routes cut include weekday services from Derby and Nottingham to London St Pancras, as well as some from Nottingham to Worksop, and Nottingham to Mansfield Woodhouse.

Some services on lines due to be reinstated last week, including Nottingham to Norwich and Nottingham to Liverpool, have been canceled.

A number of services on the route between Crewe and Newark Castle will not run beyond Derby.

Paul Barnfield, operations director at EMR said: "Like most other industries, we are facing particularly high Covid-related absences among our colleagues at the moment and this can impact our ability to provide train services.

"At the same time, government advice for people to work from home means passenger demand is very low.

"As such, this small reduction is intended to provide a reliable service as well as ensuring there is still enough capacity for those who are still traveling."

He added that the changes would be reviewed daily and altered if needed, and advised customers to check their journeys.

John Robson of CrossCountry said it was aiming to protect core services

A train company has warned that crew shortages as a result of Covid infections are leading to reduced services and cancellations.

CrossCountry said its "absenteeism rates were worsening each day" as a result of instances of Covid isolation.

The company, which runs services from Aberdeen, through Birmingham, and to the South West, said more than one in 10 staff was now absent.

John Robson of CrossCountry said it would aim to protect core services.

He said such services include those at peak times and city-to-city services which "people rely on and depend upon".

Changes and cancellations

"The absenteeism rates we are seeing at the moment are worsening each day and that is why we are going to look at what services we might decide to take out of operation strategically in order to protect those core services," he said.

The train operator said the "increasing levels of absence" among train crews was resulting in short-notice changes and cancellations. I apologised for any inconvenience.

Meanwhile, Transport for Wales, which links Birmingham and Shrewsbury, switched to an emergency timetable last month because of an "expected rise in staff shortages due to the emergence of the Omicron variant".

The firm said the move aimed to ensure it provided a reliable service during the latest stage of pandemic.

Passengers are being advised to check before traveling.

Rail services across the country are being canceled 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 canceled, versus an average of 2.9%, according to the Rail Delivery Group.

LNER, which runs services on the East Coast mainline, is operating an amended timetable in the week before Christmas because of the number of absent drivers and train managers. Sixteen services are being canceled 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 the staff was 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 was 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 canceling 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 program 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.