London Northwestern Railway has announced that it will start to run a new timetable from next week as part of their commitment to operate a regular train service for key workers during the coronavirus outbreak.
With passenger numbers continuing to fall, the operator has announced further changes will come into effect on Monday 6 April.
The latest timetable has been designed to keep as many services running as possible if part of the network has to close due to the increased impact of COVID-19.
The new timetable, which will be available to view at www.lnr.uk/coronavirus from today, has been built to reduce the length of journeys taken by an individual train.
The frequency of trains has been reduced on some routes.
All journeys between Birmingham New Street and London Euston will now involve a change at Northampton.
Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, some routes will no longer receive a London Northwestern Railway service, including:
- The Abbey Line between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey
- The Marston Vale line between Bletchley and Bedford
- Stations between Stafford and Crewe via The Potteries (larger stations served by alternative operators).
You can see all our coverage of railways and Coronavirus here
What did the officials say?
Julian Edwards, managing director of London Northwestern Railway, said:
“The rail industry is facing our biggest challenge in peacetime. We are working together to operate a regular service for our key workers and those making only the most essential journeys.
“With increased numbers of rail workers entering self-isolation due to coronavirus and a big drop in passenger numbers, now is the right time to make further changes to our service. As the government has made clear, people should only use the train for essential journeys.
“I would like to pay special tribute to our front-line staff, including drivers, conductors, dispatchers, station teams, engineers, cleaners and those in our control centres. Their hard work and dedication to keeping the trains running are helping key workers save lives.”
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London Northwestern Railway are to use some of their Class 350s on the Abbey branch line (Watford Junction-St. Albans Abbey) from next year. Or they might as well keep some of the Class 319s or inherit few Class 321s.