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| Timetable shakeup: UK rail commuters braced for rush-hour disruption – live | Timetable shakeup: UK rail commuters braced for rush-hour disruption – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern trains,has apologised to customers for the delays and cancellations caused by the “biggest timetable change in a generation”. | |
| Every train run by GTR – which is the UK’s busiest franchise and consists of Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express – was rescheduled from Sunday. | |
| One reason for the disruption is that trains and drivers are having to be redeployed and that operating practices are being overhauled in the process, GTR said. | |
| The spokesperson said: | |
| We are implementing over the coming weeks the biggest timetable change in a generation to boost capacity and improve reliability, introducing 400 extra daily trains and space for 50,000 extra passengers in the peak. | |
| Due to the scale and complexity of the task, these changes will be made incrementally. This involves redeploying drivers and trains and changing operating practices to achieve a large increase in the number of services, carriages and station stops. | |
| Despite some cancellations, passengers will benefit from an overall increase in capacity with immediate effect. | |
| We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused. Anyone delayed by 15 minutes or more can claim compensation through our websites. | |
| If altered timetables or transport disruption has affected you this morning, we’d like to hear from you. Share your stories via our encrypted form in the link below and we’ll feature some of your responses as part of our coverage. | |
| You can also share your stories, photos and videos with the Guardian via WhatsApp by adding the contact +44(0)7867825056 or by emailing me on nicola.slawson@theguardian.com. | |
| Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, the passenger watchdog,told the Guardian that the situation on Monday was “not carnage, but not brilliant”. | |
| Speaking at St Pancras station, he said the number of new services meant that trains were still coming in frequently and on time, although obviously a number had been cancelled. | |
| He said: | |
| Let’s hope these teething problems disappear. It’s essentially a timetable revolution. For most passengers it means more seats. It’s all happening for the right reasons, – in the middle of London it’s now like you’ve got an extra Tube service in running now with such frequent trains. | |
| When you overlay on that the fact the Network Rail and train companies have had trouble with their timetables anyway, you’re going to get blips. But passengers rely on the timetable as published and they have a right to, so are very frustrated. | |
| The RMT union has already started to brand this morning’s commute “Meltdown Monday”, claiming a lack of planning and shortage of crews was jeopardising the new timetable. | |
| General secretary Mick Cash said: | |
| The union is picking up reports from both Northern and GTR of a hopeless lack of planning, combined with a shortage of crew and fleet, which has reduced the Monday morning journey to a nightmare for many passengers. It is our members dealing with the anger at the sharp end not the well-paid top brass from Arriva and Govia who are responsible for this Meltdown Monday on our railways. | |
| Both of these companies have sought to compromise safety and access by hacking back on critical staff and it is no surprise to RMT that they can’t be trusted with the massive logistical challenges of bringing in new timetables. | |
| Frankly I wouldn’t trust the private train operators to run a bath let alone our vital rail routes. After Virgin/Stagecoach were kicked off the East Coast last week it’s time for the rest of these racketeers to be sent packing as well and for our railways to be run by the public sector as a public service. | |
| As commuters vented their frustration on social media about the shakeup this morning, the train operators said the disruption was due to a “short-term planning amendment”. | |
| @nationalrailenq day one of new train times and surprise surprise they are all cancelled!!! It’s absolutely disgraceful and to make matters worse Thursday there will be ANOTHER STRIKE. Will people ever be able to get to work because this is now 3 months of issues! | |
| When one Twitter user asked what this meant, the Thameslink account replied: “With the new timetable being introduced we have a lot of staff and stock in the wrong places. Some services have been altered/cancelled as a result whilst Control work to get everything in the right place.” | |
| Well #railplan20/20 you’ve fucked this one up. First commuter day of new timetable, 1 train cancelled before departure, 1 train cancelled mid-journey, absolute chaos and no one to help at St Albans city...do tell me how this is improving service? | |
| Great Northern told one customer trains could be altered “for the next few weeks whilst getting everything into place”. | |
| @TLRailUK Why is it that a) all timetable affected trains trains are either delayed or cancelled and b) it now takes 23 mins to get direct from St. Albans to St. Pancras #RegressionSoldAsProgress #YourSeviceIsAJoke #2020Fail #PlanBeforeRollingOut pic.twitter.com/4cAJTlzpj1 | |
| The completely revised timetable being operated by Govia Thameslink railway is facing its first full test this morning, with every single one of its trains now running at a different time. | |
| While the train company promises that it will mean more seats, routes and a better, more reliable service overall, it said disruption was likely in an interim period. A number of trains were cancelled on Sunday, the first official day, while at least 15 rush hour trains into the capital were cancelled on Monday morning. | While the train company promises that it will mean more seats, routes and a better, more reliable service overall, it said disruption was likely in an interim period. A number of trains were cancelled on Sunday, the first official day, while at least 15 rush hour trains into the capital were cancelled on Monday morning. |
| It's complicated to explain but with the new timetable being introduced we have a lot of staff and stock in the wrong places. Some services have been altered/cancelled as a result whilst Control work to get everything in the right place. ^Nat | It's complicated to explain but with the new timetable being introduced we have a lot of staff and stock in the wrong places. Some services have been altered/cancelled as a result whilst Control work to get everything in the right place. ^Nat |
| Some commuter stations were reported to be far more crowded than last week in the early morning, with irate passengers on social media reporting confusion and disruption as they attempted to travel to work on Thameslink routes. | Some commuter stations were reported to be far more crowded than last week in the early morning, with irate passengers on social media reporting confusion and disruption as they attempted to travel to work on Thameslink routes. |
| Hundreds of thousands of rail commuters in the south-east could be back to work with a bump after the royal wedding weekend thanks to the biggest train timetable change in decades. | Hundreds of thousands of rail commuters in the south-east could be back to work with a bump after the royal wedding weekend thanks to the biggest train timetable change in decades. |
| Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates Britain’s largest rail franchise, covering a quarter of all journeys and carrying about 500,000 passengers daily, has rescheduled every train as it brings in more than 400 extra services a day. | Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates Britain’s largest rail franchise, covering a quarter of all journeys and carrying about 500,000 passengers daily, has rescheduled every train as it brings in more than 400 extra services a day. |
| The changes began on Sunday and despite a huge publicity drive, passengers trying to get into and around London found few of the promised new services were actually running. | The changes began on Sunday and despite a huge publicity drive, passengers trying to get into and around London found few of the promised new services were actually running. |
| We’d love to hear from you if you have been affected by changes and cancellations this morning. You can get in touch to share how your commute is going by filling out the form in the article below. | We’d love to hear from you if you have been affected by changes and cancellations this morning. You can get in touch to share how your commute is going by filling out the form in the article below. |