Covid-19 staff shortages blamed as rail services linking London to south west cut at Hampshire in run-up to Christmas

South Western Railway (SWR) said all West of England line services, which run between Waterloo and Exeter St David’s via Hampshire, will terminate at Basingstoke until December 24.

Services between Salisbury and Bristol have been cancelled with SWR saying crews either contracting coronavirus or self-isolating mean fewer trains are able to run.

Basingstoke is currently under tier two restrictions, while London was moved into tier three on Saturday, and passengers will have to make their way to and from Waterloo via another service to connect with ongoing train services.

The rail operator said: ‘We’re sorry but due to a high number of our train crew either testing positive for Covid-19 or being required to self-isolate, we have made the difficult decision to start and terminate all West of England line services at Basingstoke and cancel services between Salisbury and Bristol.

‘We expect this disruption to last until the end of service on 24 December.’

The four nations have agreed to allow three households to form an exclusive ‘Christmas bubble’ for the five days between December 23 and 27 across the UK.

Guidance says, if necessary, people can travel within the UK for the purposes of meeting their Christmas bubble between these dates, or between 22 and 28 December if they are travelling to or from Northern Ireland.

SEE ALSO: Road closed in both directions after crash under railway bridge

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