Covid is receding in the public mind and restrictions on travel have been removed. But as the railway continues on a path to recovery from its pandemic trauma, operators are treading carefully in the changes coming up in the May timetable, seeking to encourage traffic while at the same time containing costs.
Exemplifying the trend is Great Western Railway, which had only introduced its post-electrification improvements shortly before the virus hit. ‘Overall service levels remain largely the same as 2019, but some improvements will need to wait longer’ GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood told the Modern Railways Fourth Friday Club Rail in Wales and the West conference in Cardiff on 25 March.