New rail timetables promising more trains and faster journeys have got off to a disastrous start, with widespread delays and cancellations.
The improved schedules took effect in the early hours of Sunday morning, 15 December.
But GWR, which has re-timed three-quarters of trains in the biggest schedule shake-up since 1976, has cancelled or curtailed dozens of trains on its network linking London Paddington with South Wales and the West of England.
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“The amendments have come about because an unusually high number of rail staff are not available to work,” said GWR.
Passengers between Penzance and London are being told to use local services on the Exeter-Plymouth-Penzance stretch, as some long-distance expresses have been cancelled.
The train firm added: “Services between Exeter and Plymouth will be supported by additional road vehicles; adding up to an hour on journey times.”
GWR also revealed problems elsewhere on the network, saying there would be a “reduced service” on the route between London Paddington and South Wales.
“Direct trains between Cheltenham and London Paddington will terminate at Swindon, where customers will be able to catch a train service onwards to London,” a statement read.
Problems with trains between London and South Wales have been exacerbated by engineering work.
Any traveller who manages to reach Wales may find their problems are only just beginning.
Rail passengers in Wales had been promised transformed train services from today, with 40 per cent more Sunday departures and faster links with London.
But Transport for Wales (TfW) has so far reported 15 cancellations, including some of the new services that were supposed to be connecting Pwllheli and Machynlleth.
Other TfW services were curtailed, with the Swansea-Fishguard service terminating at Carmarthen and only the English section of the lunchtime Crewe-Chester-Holyhead train running; the stretch from Chester along the North Wales coast has been cancelled.
The train operator blamed crew shortages and train faults. In addition, travellers from Swansea face delays due to congestion.
Commuters will be concerned that the Monday morning rush hour could see schedules unravel – as they did in May 2018 when radical new timetables were introduced on the Northern network in northwest England and the Thameslink line through London.
At Britain’s busiest station, London Waterloo, early arrivals on Sunday were delayed or cancelled because of overrunning engineering work at Woking.
South Western Railway passengers are halfway through a month-long strike by members of the RMT Union in a long-running dispute over the role of guards.
About half the normal number of trains to Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Somerset and Devon are running, but some branch lines have no trains at all.
Elsewhere, improvements appear to be taking effect with few problems. On CrossCountry four weekday and five Saturday trains between Birmingham and Newcastle will run considerably faster, saving travellers up to half-an-hour.
Stansted Airport and Norwich become connected with hourly trains. A new link between Halifax in West Yorkshire has been launched. On the East Coast main line, there are more direct trains from Harrogate in North Yorkshire to London.
In Scotland, a new £14m station has opened at Robroyston, east of Glasgow, with twice-hourly links to both Edinburgh and Glasgow.
