Southern Railway passengers among those facing disruption due to timetable changes

COMMUTERS are facing disruption this morning as trains are cancelled amid the largest timetable change across Britain for decades.
Southern RailwaySouthern Railway
Southern Railway

Every train run by the UK’s busiest franchise, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which includes Southern Railway, was rescheduled yesterday.

The firm had warned services could be disrupted as the new timetable was introduced, leaving some passengers frustrated on the first day.

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And there was more confusion for travellers this morning, with many complaining their services had been cancelled.

As several people aired their frustration on social media, the train operators said the disruption was due to a ‘short-term planning amendment’.

A GTR spokesman said on Sunday: ‘We are introducing the biggest change to rail timetables in a generation and, as we have been informing passengers, we expect some disruption to services in the initial stages.

‘This is a significant logistical challenge as we make rolling incremental changes across more than 3,000 daily services.

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‘We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused during the initial stages of the timetable change.

‘The improvements we are making will lead to a significant boost in capacity with a 135 increase in services across the GTR network immediately.’

More than four million trains across Britain were rescheduled from Sunday in the largest timetable change in living memory.

The number of alterations is seven times larger than normal due to the introduction of new trains and services following billions of pounds of investment.

The shake-up is designed to increase overall frequencies and reliability, but some passengers will find their regular journeys are no longer possible.