Rail passengers have been urged not to travel on any Great Western Railway (GWR) main lines on Sunday, 15 December.
The company normally links London Paddington with South Wales and the West of England. But GWR expects “significant disruption to services this Sunday because of crew availability”. Many staff are not contractually obliged to work on Sundays.
Passengers are warned that “a significantly reduced, amended timetable will be in place for long-distance trains” between:
The firm says: “Fewer trains will run on these routes, and those that do will be extremely busy. Some further services may also be cancelled or delayed at short notice.
Read more: ‘No way to run a railway’ – how the Sunday blues have depressed Britain’s weary train passengers
“Local services in the Exeter and Bristol areas are also expected to be affected.
“Customers should change their plans if possible and only travel if absolutely necessary.
GWR has asked people planning to visit Bath’s Christmas market on Sunday not to take the train. Last weekend the rail company said trains might not be able to call at Bath Spa station because of overcrowding.
Anyone who has a GWR ticket bought for Sunday can use it on Monday, 16 December or claim a full refund.
In northwest England, state-run Northern is warning rail passengers of widespread cancellations on Sunday.
The train operator, which is the second largest in the UK, says: “We’re expected to see further disruption in the northwest this Sunday, 15 December. With some routes expected to be impacted by train crew being unavailable.
“Recently, we have seen higher levels of cancellations in the northwest and for that we are sorry. The underlying reason is train crew availability, in particular on Sundays which is contractually outside of the working week.”
On past Sundays, links from Manchester Piccadilly to destinations including Buxton, Chester and Crewe, as well as the line from Blackpool South to Preston, have been badly affected by staff shortages.
Sunday will bring good news to some Northern passengers in northeast England: the first passenger trains in 60 years will run between Newcastle and Ashington on the Northumberland coast.
Trains will run twice-hourly, except in the evenings and on Sundays when they will be hourly. The maximum fare for the 35-minute journey is £3 one way. A new station serving Blyth is being completed on the line and will open during 2025, along with several others.
