The UK has been battered over the past few days by Storm Gerrit, which caused major flooding and power cuts across the country. Due to the excess of water on roads and debris blown onto tracks, both cars and trains faced travel disruption and delays. According to The Telegraph, ‘engineering works and driver shortages also caused delays’ and this has continued. Now, rail firms have been ‘warning that there is a “high risk” of weekend cancellations because of a lack of train staff’.
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For those of you travelling for new year, this means you could face major delays if you wait to travel over the weekend. Here’s what we know so far about the affected routes and what has been said about the disruption.
What we know about the disrupted routes
New Year’s Eve falls on Sunday this year, and Northern Rail - which calls at over 20% of stations in the UK - is expecting disruption. Tickets bought for Sunday will therefore be valid from Friday 29 December in a bid to get some passengers to their destination before the problems hit.
Tricia Williams, the chief operating officer for Northern Rail, said:
Unfortunately, customers travelling over the new year period should expect disruption. This is due to limited train crew availability in some areas and planned engineering works. We strongly advise customers to check before you travel on those days.
Services may finish early, not run at all or terminate at different stations from normal.
Another service, CrossCountry, has put similar measures in place. This company, which operates 120 stations throughout the UK, has said tickets for Sunday can be used on Saturday or Monday 1st January instead, as long as they were purchased on or before Thursday 28 December (when most of the disruption started).
What has been said about the disruption
These warnings have been issued as operators were urged to give notice about ‘self-inflicted’ cancellations. Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, said:
Come clean now — that’s what people need.
I would prefer to know well in advance what is happening so it can be communicated to passengers and they can make their plans. The worst possible thing is a last-minute change, particularly late trains being cancelled.
Greg Smith, the MP for Buckingham who sits on the transport select committee, added that bad weather shouldn’t mean the country grinds to a halt:
We have bad weather every year, and frankly the train companies need to find a way of coping with it. You don’t find this sort of nonsense in other countries, and crews need to stop refusing generous overtime and get on with it.
The bottom line is, travel as soon as you can to avoid missing out on your new year celebrations!
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Sources used:
The Telegraph: Catch trains on Friday or miss parties, New Year’s Eve revellers warned
The Times: Train delays: ‘travel today’ to make New Year’s Eve party
