Southern Railway has reduced services just as commuters return to their offices due to the ongoing ‘pingdemic’.
The new weekday services are ‘in response to the effects of Coronavirus’ and are being reviewed weekly.
In a statement, the operator said: “Sadly, like many other industries across the country, coronavirus is affecting our colleagues.
“Unfortunately, following the effect of sixteen months of disruption to the business and a rapid rise in staff now needing to isolate, we have seen such a sharp increase in short notice cancellations that we have taken the difficult decision to reduce the timetable.
“We know ad-hoc cancellations are hugely frustrating for customers. Switching to a reduced timetable will help make your train service as reliable as possible under the current circumstances.
“Our colleagues will do everything they can to help you. We may need to make additional changes on the day and we strongly recommend that you check the latest travel information including at weekends at National Rail Enquiries.
“We are very sorry if these changes affect your journey plans. We will increase services as soon as we can.”
Trains between Beckenham Junction and London Bridge via Dulwich are not running, with no Southern service at Beckenham Junction or Birkbeck.
Customers at these two stations will need to use Southeastern services (Beckenham Junction) or Tramlink (Birkbeck).
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There is also no direct service between Crystal Palace and Dulwich, customers will need to use London buses to travel between West Norwood and Herne Hill for alternative trains between Herne Hill and Dulwich / London Bridge.
A shuttle service will run between Tattenham Corner and Purley at half-hourly frequency in busy periods and hourly throughout the day.
Caterham to London Bridge services via Tulse Hill will continue to run. In the early morning and late evening there will be other direct services between Caterham and London Bridge
Alternative trains will call at Purley Oaks and South Croydon to provide as many journey options as possible.
Thameslink trains are also affected, with one train per hour will run via Wimbledon to St Albans on the Sutton line (via Herne Hill and Elephant and Castle) and one train per hour will run via Hackbridge. This will create a two trains per hour service between Streatham and St Albans.
For more information visit: https://www.southernrailway.com/coronavirus-information/revised-timetable
