Covid-19: Govia Thameslink and Great Northern reduce services due to staff isolation

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(Last Updated On: 2021-07-22)

Train operators are introducing reduced timetables due to an increasing number of employees having to isolate after contact with a positive Covid-19 case.

Thameslink and Southern will run a new weekday timetable from Monday with the “knock-on impact and disruption” of the pandemic also a factor.

The reduced timetable would “give customers more certainty”, it said.

Great Northern Rail has also announced a reduced timetable due to coronavirus.

Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates Thameslink and Southern, is introducing changes across five routes after it had seen a “significant rise in colleagues needing to isolate in recent weeks”.

It added that this, “combined with the knock-on impact and disruption of Covid-19 over the past 17 months” meant that there were “fewer colleagues available to operate services”.

‘More certainty’

Chief operating officer, Steve White, said it was a “difficult decision”.

“Unfortunately, like other industries across the country, coronavirus continues to affect our operations,” he said.

“Our colleagues have continued to work tirelessly throughout the pandemic and we’re really sorry for any inconvenience caused by the latest changes.

“By bringing in a reduced timetable now, it will help to reduce short notice cancellations and give customers more certainty.”

The Thameslink routes affected are between Sutton and St Albans City and between Gatwick Airport and Bedford.

The Southern routes affected are between Clapham Junction and Watford Junction and Milton Keynes, between Beckenham Junction and London Bridge and between London Bridge and Caterham/Tattenham Corner.

The operator has “strongly advised” passengers to check before they travel because additional changes might be needed, including at weekends.

Great Northern said a new weekday timetable would run from 26 July until further notice and be “reviewed weekly”.

“Following the effect of 16 months of disruption to the business and a rapid rise in staff now needing to isolate, we have seen such a sharp increase in short notice cancellations that we have taken the difficult decision to reduce the timetable,” a statement said. BBC

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