South Western Railway sets date to restore timetable after Omicron

South Western Railway said staff shortages due to the Omicron Covid variant had led to cuts in service

South Western Railway (SWR) is to restore services to pre-Omicron levels from 21 February, the company has announced.

A temporary timetable with fewer trains was introduced on 17 January following staff shortages due to Covid and the government's work from home direction.

It was criticised for ending direct services between London Waterloo and both Weymouth and Exeter.

SWR said the restored timetable would "match capacity and demand".

When the revised service was announced, SWR said it was designed to cater for key workers, school pupils and those unable to work from home and insisted it would "sufficiently meet current demand".

Speaking in the Commons last week, Dorset West MP Chris Loder said: "South Western Railway has totally cut off Dorset, Somerset, most of Wiltshire, and Devon from its direct train services to London, as well as slashing our service in half, most of which is totally unnecessary."

Announcing the new timetable, SWR said it would be "almost identical" to the December 2021 schedule, including through trains to and from Exeter St Davids and Weymouth and a more frequent service on the Shepperton line.

Managing director Claire Mann said it had been a "difficult period" for the railway and its passengers.

"With staff availability now consistently improving, we are pleased to be able to announce this uplift, which will essentially see service levels return to where they were prior to the spread of Omicron," she said.

"More and more people are returning to our railway, and this timetable will ensure that we match capacity and demand while delivering reliability for customers."