Train company serving West Midlands cutting services

It's a response to coronavirus-related staff shortages

Avanti West Coast
Author: Kat WrightPublished 16th Jan 2022

Hundreds more daily train services are being cut in response to pandemic-related staff shortages.

Avanti West Coast is among those introducing emergency timetables from tomorrow (Mon 17th January)

East Midlands Railway, c2c, and South Western Railway are the other operators introducing emergency timetables from Monday to reduce short-notice cancellations.

Several others have taken the same measure in recent weeks due to the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

It was estimated earlier this month that around 10% of rail staff were absent from work.

Avanti West Coast will only run one train per hour in both directions on each of its routes connecting London Euston with Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester.

Just one daily return service will operate between the capital and Holyhead, North Wales via Chester.

Industry body the Rail Delivery Group said reliability has been boosted by those operators which have already reduced services.

It added that just 2.1% of all trains were cancelled in the seven days to Friday, which is below the annual average of around 3%.

Passengers are advised to check for updates before setting out on their journey, or sign up for automatic alerts from National Rail Alert Me.

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