Rail services to be axed under Government plans: reports
Reports have emerged overnight suggesting as many as one in five train services could be axed to reduce financial pressure on the network.
The Treasury has been propping up rail services throughout 2020 as lockdown restrictions cut passenger numbers.
The Telegraph reports that officials want to bring rail capacity down by a fifth to reduce the strain on the nation’s purse strings.
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It is expected that so-called Tier 4 restrictions will remain in place for at least a month or possibly two as vaccines are gradually rolled out.
Guidance to ‘work from home where possible’ is likely to last until the end of Q1, experts reckon.
Business bodies have called for train companies and the Department for Transport to introduce carnet ticket options to respond to new flexible working patterns as the nation goes back to its desk.
Season tickets are viewed as prohibitively expensive if workers are commuting only two to three days a week as they return.
London Conservatives have called for a similar scheme to be introduced on TfL services.
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