Train services are being cut from around 87% of normal levels to 72% due to the latest coronavirus lockdown in England.
Train operators are asking people who must use the railway during lockdown to check before they travel as, for many passengers, new amended timetables are now available to view on journey planners. While the time of some services may change, other services may no longer be running during the period of increased restrictions.
Train companies have worked with government to plan reduced timetables, focussing on morning and evening peak travel times so that key workers can get to where they’re needed, and on maintaining space for social distancing. Building on experience and learnings from last year, further work has been undertaken to ensure services used by key workers are retained.
Robert Nisbet, Director of Nations and Regions for the Rail Delivery Group said
“Changing to a reduced timetable during this period of much lower demand will deliver certainty for those people who need to travel while saving taxpayers’ money. We ask people to check before they travel in the weeks ahead and we thank our frontline rail staff whose hard work is keeping other key workers moving.”
These changes are temporary, and are being made in such a way that rail services can be restored as quickly as possible when restrictions are eased, and more people begin to travel. It also means the railway will be more responsive if services need to be increased during lockdown. Not all changes will be introduced immediately, and operators will continue to monitor services throughout this period to ensure sufficient capacity. Rail companies will be promoting changes to timetables to passengers on trains, at stations and on social media.
