CrossCountry to temporarily reduce train timetable

The reduction in services will allow time for more vital driver training

People travelling from Bristol and Gloucester up to Nottingham and Manchester will be among those affected by a train operator's reduced timetable announced to address "performance and reliability" issues.

Prolonged industrial action across the rail industry has meant CrossCountry was unable to deal with the backlog of critical training days required by train drivers.

To allow for training, services will be reduced from 10 August to 9 November.

CrossCountry said the temporary timetable would reduce the number of on-the-day cancellations, which caused the most inconvenience to passengers.

'Last resort'

Bethan Jelfs, CrossCountry’s regional director for the West and Wales, said taking "proactive action" now would ensure a "resilient and dependable service" in the future.

The company also plan to "bolster" services by adding extra carriages wherever possible to retain maximum passenger capacity on the CrossCountry network.

A similar approach was trialled over Easter which led to a 94% decrease in on-the-day cancellations.

“Removing services from our timetable is always a last resort," said Ms Jelfs.

“This is a difficult decision, but by taking proactive action now we are investing in building a more resilient and dependable service for CrossCountry customers for the future.”

It is hoped that by the end of the 13-week period, CrossCountry will have more fully-trained drivers able to work across the network and will have reduced its training backlog – thereby providing a more reliable service for customers with fewer cancellations.

Customers who already have tickets for travel on impacted services can travel on an alternative service or request a full refund.

Which services will be impacted?

Nationally, the following alterations are being made to timetables:

• Scotland - South West route: There will be minimal alterations to the core CrossCountry route between Scotland and the South West via Birmingham. Some services from Newcastle to Birmingham via Doncaster will not operate during the temporary timetable.

• Newcastle – Reading route: Some services from Newcastle to Birmingham via Doncaster will be removed from operation during the temporary timetable.

• Manchester – Bournemouth route: There will be minimal alterations to the route between Manchester and Bournemouth via Reading.

• Manchester – Bristol / Paignton route: There will be minimal alterations to services between Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester, although fewer services than normal will operate to Paignton.

• Nottingham – Cardiff route: The route, which goes via Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa and Tewkesbury will operate fewer services than normal, and some services will start or finish at different stations.

• Birmingham – Stansted route: There are minimal alterations to CrossCountry services serving Stansted Airport.