Disruption on rail continues due to staff shortages and bad weather
Sunday 18 December 2022 1:24 p.m
The chaos on Britain’s rail network continued today as the impact of this week’s strikes and bad weather have led to further delays and cancellations for thousands of commuters.
Network Rail warned passengers that the impact of the strikes would cause operations to start later, as LNER would cancel several trains due to staff shortages.
Trains between London and Edinburgh now terminate in Newcastle, while trains to Harrogate terminate in Leeds.
Severe weather also added to the ongoing disruption, forcing Govia Thameslink to cancel several trains on its wider network.
“Urgent repairs to the tracks on the routes between Norwood Junction and Brighton will take place from this evening until tomorrow morning following severe weather which has caused damage to the railway,” Thameslink tweeted.
The company also urged customers to check before traveling to allow for additional time to complete their trips.
The situation in the capital was similar, as several subway lines were affected by delays and partial closures.
The Barkeloo line and the London Overground will remain closed between Queens Park and Harrow & Wealdstone and Euston and Watford Junction until December 23 for planned works.
Whilst the District Line between Turnham Green and Richmond remains partially suspended due to a previous signal failure.
Serious delays were also reported on the Central Line.
Chaos is expected to continue over the holiday period as RMT union members who work at Network Rail shut down tools between 6pm on Christmas Eve and 6am on December 27.
This will delay planned engineering work, which is normally scheduled for the Christmas period, to avoid disruption later in the New Year.
