Sharp intake of breath; the UK's spring timetable takes effect

Following chaos last year as the last timetable change came, commuters are braced for more trouble this week!

Following last year's summer table introduction brought chaos, anger and frustration to passengers as over 800 services a day were initially cancelled, there was understandable trepidation this weekend ahead of the 2019 summer timetable introduction. The timetable promises more than 1000 new services each week, to help alleviate some of the overcrowding and lack of capacity on much of the UK's network. The Rail Delivery Group reported that it had learned lessons arising from last year’s “disruptive summer timetable change” and would only introduce the new services and timetable changes “where there is high confidence that the necessary infrastructure, staffing plans and new trains will be ready.”

Changes are being introduced to the following services:

c2c
Chiltern Railways
CrossCountry
East Midlands trains
Greater Anglia/Stansted Express
Great Western Railway
Gatwick Express
London Northwestern Railway
Northern
ScotRail
Southeastern
South Western Railway
TfL Rail
Thameslink
Transport for Wales
West Midlands Railway

Early signs are that there is less disruption than last year, although some notorious bottlenecks have shown their weaknesses again, with Wimbledon being severely affected by a track failure earlier today; see full details of the latest state of play here.

Sharp intake of breath; the UK's spring timetable takes effect

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