TransPennine cuts major rail services to cope with Covid shortages
The rail operator is bringing in a reduced timetable from Monday
Last updated 7th Jan 2022
Rail services are being reduced across the north of England and Scotland from Monday, as operator TransPennine Express tries to deal with the impact of Covid on staffing.
The operator says the "ongoing impact" of the Omicron variant and some industrial action has forced it to introduce an emergency timetable.
Managing director Matthew Golton has apologised for disruption, but says the firms priority is to "keep people moving".
Major changes to services
From Monday, TransPennine will operate the following services:
Anglo-Scottish services
Edinburgh Waverley – Manchester Airport, a service every two hours in each direction
Glasgow Central – Manchester Airport, three services per day in each direction
Liverpool Lime Street/Oxenholme – Glasgow Central, two services per day in each direction
Edinburgh Waverley – Newcastle, five services per day in each direction
North TransPennine route
Newcastle – Liverpool Lime Street, a service every hour in each direction
Redcar Central – Manchester Airport, a service every hour in each direction
Hull – Manchester Piccadilly, a service every hour in each direction
Scarborough – Manchester Victoria/Liverpool Lime Street hourly services will be replaced with a Scarborough – York hourly service, with additional peak time extensions to/from Leeds
Leeds – Huddersfield and Huddersfield - Manchester stopper services will continue to operate hourly
South TransPennine route
Cleethorpes/Sheffield – Manchester Piccadilly/Airport will operate hourly in the AM and PM peaks and every two hours in the off-peak period
To enable rolling stock maintenance and stabling, the last service of the day between Sheffield – Cleethorpes will operate as a rail replacement bus service