Passengers call on Labour to ‘sort out’ rail networks after hundreds of cancellations clash with Euro 2024

Exclusive: ‘Delays, cancellations and cramped trains’ say travellers as train drivers’ union Aslef blames ‘failed privatisation’

LNER Azuma express at Newcastle station, with a Northern train in the background (Simon Calder)

Passengers have responded furiously on social media after hundreds of trains were cancelled on Sunday.

Many rail crew who do have Sundays in their normal working week chose not to work and instead watch the Euro 2024 final.

Passengers on Great Western Railway were urged not to travel after 6pm on links between London Paddington, the west of England and South Wales.

At 8pm, passenger Debbie Wylde wrote: “Nightmare. Still trying to get home to Bath. Delays, cancellations and cramped trains.”

Northern Trains issued a ‘Do Not Travel’ notice for six lines in northwest England, but passengers on other routes complained of short-notice cancellations. One, Howard, posted on X:

“After 7.48pm tonight (Sun) there is one scheduled service between Manchester (any station) and Bolton. It was the 10.01pm from Manchester Piccadilly.

He added: “Our railways are a sodding disgrace and how Labour can sort this out quickly I don’t know, but it should be first in their in tray.”

Northern cancelled more than 100 trains on Sunday, representing over 9 per cent of its planned schedule.

Great Western Railway says it cancelled about 5 per cent of the intended services.

LNER, which cancelled over 20 trains on the East Coast main line between London, Yorkshire and Edinburgh due to “a shortage of train crew”.

In response to a request from The Independent about whether the shortage was expected or whether passengers should expect more of the same, an LNER spokesperson said: “Our priority is keeping our customers on the move and as such we always strive to run our timetable as planned.

“When there are any changes, we use our social media channels and live updates on our website, as well as direct emails to keep our customers informed.

“The information we share includes details for those entitled to Delay Repay”

LNER is state-run, as is Northern.

Before the election, Labour promised “more reliable services”, saying: “A unified system will plan and deliver an achievable, reliable timetable and ensure that the network is able to deliver it, so that the services promised to passengers are delivered.”

In response to the mass cancellations on Sunday, the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said: “Fourteen years without a workforce strategy has left our railways understaffed, reliant on voluntary working and lurching from one crisis to the next.

“Our urgent priority is to reset workforce relations and put passengers first.”

A spokesperson for the train drivers’ union, Aslef, said: “Train drivers rostered to work turned up and worked. The train companies have problems persuading drivers to work overtime but overtime is voluntary, not mandatory.

“Some drivers, like many people, are on holiday. And some like to watch football. Although many, especially in Scotland and Wales, are not England fans.

“But the real trouble – and the truth, unpalatable though it might be – is that none of the privatised train companies employs enough drivers to deliver the services they promise passengers, and the government, they will run.

“That is why the failed privatisation of Britain’s railways is about to hit the buffers in the King’s Speech next week when it will be announced that our railways are coming back into public ownership to be run, properly, as a public service, not for private profit.”

Working on Sundays is governed by dozens of different agreements between the rail unions and train operators, some of them dating back decades.

Sunday is either “inside” or “outside” the working week. If the latter, then all work on Sundays is paid as overtime, often at a premium rate or with a guaranteed minimum number of hours.

At some train operators, Sunday working is “committed”: if rostered, the member of train crew must work unless they can pass on the shift to a colleague.

Even within a single train operator, rules commonly differ for drivers and guards – and often date back to previous incarnations of rail franchises.

For example, state-run Northern has multiple variations of Sunday working depending on which side of the Pennines the crew member is employed and whether they are a driver or guard.