South Western Railway (SWR) has announced a new timetable from next Monday (21 February) which it said will ‘essentially’ reinstate services to pre-Omicron levels.
However, the firm said that a small number of services that ran in December 2021 are not being reinstated ‘as we seek to effectively match capacity with demand’.
It follows a claim by the prime minister two weeks ago that, following lobbying by a local Tory MP, ‘the timetable is expected to return to December 2021 levels from Saturday the 19th of February’.
That claim was met with some scepticism and SWR said at the time that it was still developing plans to run more services. New timetables are usually introduced on a Monday.
Announcing the new timetable, SWR said: ‘We are able to make this uplift following an improvement in staff availability, meaning we can increase service levels without compromising reliability.’
SWR said it was forced to introduce a temporary timetable earlier this year in response to staff absences caused by the spread of Omicron, claiming that this ‘has ensured reliability for customers during a challenging period, with SWR adding additional services as staff availability improved’.
Managing director Claire Mann said: ‘It has been a difficult period for our railway and the customers it serves, with significant staff shortages giving us no choice but to temporarily reduce our timetable last month.
‘With staff availability now consistently improving, we are pleased to be able to announce this uplift, which will essentially see service levels return to where they were prior to the spread of Omicron.
‘More and more people are returning to our railway, and this timetable will ensure that we match capacity and demand while delivering reliability for customers.’
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