Rail passengers over Christmas should ‘look at alternatives,’ says transport secretary

‘I would appeal to people to think very carefully about their travel plans,’ said Grant Shapps

Christmas break: London King’s Cross will close for five days over the festive period (Simon Calder)

After The Independent revealed the pressure that the so-called “Christmas Ease” lifting of lockdown will place on long-distance trains, the transport secretary has urged prospective rail travellers to “look at the various alternatives available”.

The government has promised “some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days” over Christmas, with millions of people allowed to travel to reach families and friends.

The dates that have been widely discussed are 24 to 28 December.

No trains will run on Christmas Day itself, and almost none on Boxing Day. In addition, planned engineering closures will keep King's Cross station in London closed from the evening of Christmas Eve to the morning of New Year’s Eve.

On the BBC’s Today programme, Grant Shapps was asked whether the existing rail service – which is depleted because of the coronavirus pandemic – can cope.

“We put £10bn into keeping our railways running during this coronavirus because of the dramatic drop in passenger numbers.

“Despite that it is the case that quite a number of railway workers, for example, are off work with coronavirus and that does mean that there is some pressure on services and some limitations

"I also would appeal to people to look very carefully at their Christmas travel plans even when we do announce this brief relaxation because it may well be the case very, very long-planned engineering works are scheduled.

“Now we’ll try and minimise those as much as possible, but a lot of them take 18 months or two years to plan.

“The other big consideration is: in order to try to manage people and prevent overcrowding, a number of rail lines are actually ticket-only booking for the period.

“So what I would appeal to people to think very carefully about their travel plans and consider where they can travel and look at the various alternatives available.”

Many rail passengers have complained that Advance tickets are not yet on sale for crucial pre-Christmas journeys.

One month ahead, the cheapest journey from London to Manchester on Avanti West Coast is £64.40, compared with Advance fares that are typically around half as much.