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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Tracy Carmichael

Rail timetable to ramp up and return to normal after covid changes

Renfrewshire commuters can breathe a sigh of relief after train operator ScotRail announced it is set to resume a normal timetable.

The temporary timetable, introduced in early January following the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, will be shelved as railways return to the pre-Christmas timetable from Monday, February 14.

Bosses say their operations were hard-hit by the Coronavirus variant, with up to 450 staff absent at the peak of the latest wave.

They say services were impacted by the sickness toll, leading to the timetable reduction in a bid to provide "greater certainty for customers" on which services were set to operate.

Around 150 ScotRail staff still remain absent due to covid, including some 50 drivers.

But they say the improving Coronavirus picture, coupled with easing restrictions and the return to premises of much of the nation's workforce, has led to the return to the timetable in operation in early December which delivers around 2,000 services a day.

The Scottish Government's covid guidelines are, however, still in place, including the mandatory wearing of a face covering for the entire journey, including on trains and in stations - and on both enclosed and open-air platforms.

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David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: "The introduction of some temporary changes to our timetable was important for our customers, providing a level of certainty during a challenging time.

"Those changes have allowed us to keep people moving across the country, and our staff worked flat out to run a safe and reliable railway in really difficult and continually changing circumstances."

He added: "We still face significant challenges, with 150 staff absent, but with things improving, and restrictions across Scotland being relaxed, we are now able to safely reintroduce our full timetable of around 2,000 services a day.
"The pandemic is not over yet and we will still face some disruption due to staff absence, but we are confident of providing a reliable service for our customers."

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