Trains feel the strain as Covid decimates Christmas services
Coronavirus-related staff shortages have been blamed for train cancellations across the region as people try to return home in time for the Christmas period.
Railway chiefs have urged people to look at the latest timetables – with fewer trains running due to workers being off, leading to a string of service cancellations.
It comes as the region already faced disruption with the West Midlands Metro being off for four weeks – but it has since resumed with a reduced service.
Trains across the Avanti West Coast network are subject to short-notice cancellations but the "majority" of trains will continue to run as scheduled, chiefs say.
A spokesman for the firm said: "The pandemic is unfortunately resulting in some staff shortages. We're doing everything we can to run our full timetable but there may be some short-notice cancellations."
Meanwhile a spokesman for West Midlands Trains, which runs West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway services across the region, said: "Like many industries, we are currently experiencing an increase in staff absence and self-isolation requirements due to the pandemic.
"While we are covering as many services as possible using overtime, staff shortages may mean fewer trains are able to run and as a result some services may be cancelled.
"We apologise to passengers impacted by this issue and advise all customers to check their journeys before travelling."
CrossCountry, which runs services in the region, has seen dozens of trains cancelled each day – with many others having fewer carriages than usual. Cancellations have been made to routes including Manchester to Bournemouth via Birmingham along with Birmingham to Stansted Airport.
A spokeswoman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, said: "Like everyone else, our staff are susceptible to the virus but as we showed last year during the pandemic, we will ensure that key workers can get to where they need to be.
"We aren't able to run every train as planned at the moment but we know people want confidence that their train is going to turn up so we will be working hard to give clear, accurate and timely information and people should check before they travel."
Latest preliminary figures from the Department for Transport show demand for trains was at 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels on December 9. Passenger numbers have been hit by the advice to work from home, but are likely to increase this week as people make festive trips.
