Govia Thameslink Railway reduces services due to staff isolation

A train operator is introducing a reduced timetable due to a number of employees having to isolate after contact with a positive Covid-19 case.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which operates Thameslink and Southern, will run a new weekday timetable from Monday.

It said the changes were due to the "knock-on impact and disruption" of the pandemic.

The firm added it wanted to "give customers more certainty".

The changes across five routes follow a "significant rise in colleagues needing to isolate in recent weeks".

GTR said there were "fewer colleagues available to operate services".

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

"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.

Chief executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus, Anthony Smith, said it was "better for some services to be temporarily withdrawn" than have "chaotic last-minute cancellations".

"These are harder for passengers to deal with and more likely to lead to overcrowding," he said.

St Albans MP, Daisy Cooper, said passengers were "once again being left in the lurch paying the full ticket cost for a reduced service" with "cramped carriages creating an increased risk of Covid transmission".

She said face coverings should be made mandatory and commuters who have paid full price for a reduced service should be offered compensation.

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