New summer rail timetable set for May
New summer train timetables will come into force on May 19, with 1,000 extra train services being added.
The Rail Delivery Group said the industry had “learned the lessons” from 2018’s timetable changes which caused major disruption.
It said: “A cross-industry task force has carefully examined the railway’s preparedness across the country and new services are only being introduced where there is high confidence that the necessary infrastructure, staffing plans and new trains will be ready. Network Rail has also bolstered its timetable team.
“This cross-industry approach was used ahead of the winter timetable change in December, which saw punctuality and reliability improve, and train companies and Network Rail are again making the delivery of punctual, reliable services their absolute priority while they increase capacity on the railway. “
It said that by the early 2020s, there would be 6,400 more rail services than there had been in 2017.
Every year, the national timetable is routinely changed twice – for the summer (in May) and for the winter (in December) allowing services to reflect seasonal variations and to enable new services to be introduced following investment in infrastructure and new trains.
Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the rail industry, said: “As part of our long-term plan to deliver a step-change in rail services, thousands of extra trains and new carriages are coming on track in the coming years, making journeys better and boosting the economy.
“However, improving the railway for tomorrow cannot come at the expense of running a reliable railway today. The scale of our ambition to improve means that this is a significant challenge and while there may be some teething problems, train operators and Network Rail have worked together to carefully assess where new services can be introduced without impacting reliability.
“Many parts of the country are set to benefit this summer from a better service, but where introducing improvements puts reliability at risk, we are rightly taking a more cautious approach.”
