Summer Timetable changes
WIDELY touted as the biggest timetable change in living memory, the weekend of May 20-21 saw thousands of train services altered as various new routes and enhancement projects start to come to fruition. However, delays to several major projects, particularly in the north of England, and re-phasing of others, meant the predicted ‘big bang’ wasn’t quite as loud as originally planned.
According to outgoing Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne, the national timetable change was six times larger than usual, affecting passengers from Dover to Penzance and Brighton to Inverness. Unfortunately, Network Rail’s late delivery of some improvements forced the re-planning of train diagrams and crew rosters at short notice, leading to disruption, cancellations, short-formed trains and overcrowding.
Northern was hit particularly hard by a shortage of trains that should have been cascaded from other operators and crew shortages caused by the suspension of voluntary rest day working.
Several types of new and refurbished train also failed to make their debut as expected in May. ScotRail was among the worst affected as new Class 385 EMUs could not
