Hundreds of thousands of mourners who want to use one of Britain’s busiest railways to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II face chaos as extra services to London this weekend have not yet been put on by bosses amid an ongoing industrial dispute.
A long-running row over pay and working conditions on the 399-mile Avanti West Coast Main Line is set to impact those attempting to travel to the capital from Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow over the weekend.
Up to Friday has seen additional service schedules by the company. Today’s services include four more return journeys between London and Manchester. Friday will see three round trips.
The Daily Telegraph has seen the internal memo, titled’stakeholder Bulletin’. It was shared with chief industry executives.
The weekend will see many people who are trying to get to London from Manchester or Liverpool, as well as Glasgow and Liverpool over the weekend be affected by the long-running pay dispute and poor working conditions for the Avanti west coast mainline.
Because of ongoing industrial disputes, extra trains to London haven’t been offered by Britain’s busiest railways this weekend despite thousands of mourners expected to visit the city in the coming days to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II. Yesterday, crowds gathered in Edinburgh to witness the hearse transporting her coffin.
The service states that no other services are planned for this weekend. However, it does not say “We are acutely aware of Saturday and Sunday being extremely busy with people coming from all parts of the UK to London in order to pay their respects.” As they were previously, Saturdays and Sundays have been particularly challenging. [sic]The highest level of dependence on overtime.
“Nevertheless, we continue to examine the possibilities for adding services on these days. We will keep you updated. We’re also looking into the possibility of chartering extra trains to carry passengers.
Avanti had to reduce the number of trains between Manchester and London from 3 per hour to 1 this summer.
“Staffing problems” have been the source of bosses’ blame.
Paul Whittingham, managing director, was fired after being accused by Aslef drivers’ union of launching an ‘unofficial’ strike.
This evening, the Queen’s coffin made its way to London via Edinburgh. Buckingham Palace is seen as the hearse transporting the coffin. The coffin will be laid to rest for one night in Buckingham Palace’s bow room, before being handed over to the nation. This is to enable the public pay their respects to the monarch when she remains in Westminster Hall for the next four days.
London train cancellations caused chaos at Euston Station. Andy Burnham (London mayor) and Sadiq Khan (Greater Manchester mayor), both criticised Avanti West Coast, calling the move ‘completely inacceptable’.
After Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester (pictured), criticized the line’s nationalization potential, the possibility of it being brought back into the public eye was raised last week.
After Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, criticized the line last week it was brought back into the conversation.
Operators of trains did announce Monday that they will offer additional services for the estimated 750,000 mourners who wish to travel to London during the coming days.
Today, Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin was delivered to London by her husband from Edinburgh. The coffin will be laid to rest at Buckingham Palace’s Bow Room for one night before being handed over to the nation. This will allow her to pay respects to all those who are there to see her during four days in Westminster Hall.
Many thousands of mourners will descend upon the capital in order to see the coffin of Queen Elizabeth before Monday’s funeral.