Four peak-hour trains from Monday

Temporary timetable to be introduced on Sunday 17 May

Brookmans Park station
Image by North Mymms News via Creative Commons

Great Northern, part of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), is increasing peak-hour train services from Brookmans Park and Welham Green in order to provide “more space on board for key workers”.

The temporary timetable will be reviewed and “when it is the right time” the plan is to introduce more train services and “scale-up gradually to the full Summer 2020 timetable”.

The temporary timetable (embedded below) is designed to provide “a train service that supports key workers to be able to get to work”.

GTR and NR say there will be some additional train services with earlier start and later finish times, more cross-London Thameslink services, and increased frequencies across the network to create more space for customers on-board.

“While the government advice remains that anyone who can should continue to work entirely from home, there are people who will need to go to their place of work. The government has published guidance for people who cannot work from home and must use public transport. As a starting point, passengers are being encouraged to avoid public transport where they have alternatives, this is to protect as much space as possible for those who must use it. As public transport begins to return to a full service, the two-metre social distancing rule will leave effective capacity for one in 10 passengers on many parts of the UK network.”

For those travelling, the guidance recommends that passengers:

• keep two metres apart from others wherever possible
• wear a face covering if they can
• use contactless or smartcard payments where possible
• avoid rush hour travel wherever feasible
• wash or sanitise their hands before and after travel
• follow advice from staff

GNR and NR say they are scrutinising their train planning and adapting their operations to comply with the government’s social distancing guidelines for customers and to ensure the safety of their staff working at stations, on services, in depots and across the network.

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