Deserted railway stations across the UK resemble the “darkest days of Covid”, Network Rail’s chief executive has said amid the biggest rail strikes in three decades.
Speaking from the concourse at Waterloo station on Tuesday morning, Andrew Haines said the major London transport hub was like a “wasteland”.
“It’s devastating for passengers,” he told Sky News. “I mean this is a wasteland and it’s like the darkest days of Covid – passengers alienated from the railway because we can’t run a service for them and it breaks my heart.
“I really, really apologise to passengers who are facing that and we know there are some real life issues for people who can’t travel today. It’s so wrong.”
Mr Haines also denied that the government pressured to cap a proposed pay increase for rail workers at 3 per cent.
Half of Britain’s rail lines will be closed on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday as members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Unite walk out over pay, jobs and conditions.
‘We’re running all the services we planned to’, says GWR boss
Trains are operating to schedule on a wide range of routes from London Paddington station to the West Country and South Wales – though no further than Plymouth in southwest England and not beyond the Welsh capital.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder, Mark Hopwood, managing director of GWR, said: “We’re running all the services we planned to. Obviously we’re disappointed that we’re in a situation with strikes, and disappointed that that means less trains.
“But the service offer that we promised people is being provided.
“Here at London Paddington we’ve got services going out through the Thames Valley to Reading. We’ve got services to Oxford, to Bristol, to Cardiff and down to Exeter and Plymouth.
“We will be closing the network down a bit earlier than usual, so it’s important, that people do check before they travel.”
The apparent reliability of “strike day” services may persuade more passengers to travel on the next two dates for industrial action, 23 and 25 June.
Mr Hopwood said: “Where we are running trains, we are very happy for people to come and travel, but we really don’t want to have people stranded.
“ust check your times for your journey out – and your journey back.”
Chiara Giordano21 June 2022 15:17
Train lines urge passengers…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Independent Travel…