More winter HELL!
New Year travellers to face long delays AND fare rises
THOUSANDS of Brits hoping to get away for New Year will face further problems on the trains with the winter rush leaving many lines FROZEN in action.
Technical problems and overdue repair works have left festive travellers seething over the Christmas period, with hundreds of journeys being cut short in the lead up to the New Year.
And train companies are now preparing to face a heavy backlash with the delays following annual fare rises on Friday.
Today, train company East Coast warned passengers of likely delays during the period of reduced services.
And passengers travelling from London to Edinburgh experienced the disruptions first-hand with some journeys being terminated on route towards Newcastle.
Elsewhere, a major West Coast line, which suffered severe delays in Wembley north west London yesterday, also suffered problems due to a broken-down train at Bushey in Hertfordshire today.
While trains on another West Coast line were brought to a standstill after signalling failure near Stafford.
And an overhead wire problem at Dunbar in Scotland resulted in long rush-hour delays this morning.
Others travelling on links to and from busy stations including London Euston, Liverpool Lime Street, Crewe and Chester also experienced heavy disruptions - with many stranded for up to an hour.
Tube travellers are also likely struggle getting around the capital in the coming days with a number of planned engineering works to take place.
Parts of the Jubilee, District and Circle lines will be shut off at certain times this week, adding more pressure on running routes.
The delays come just days before passengers gear up to pay increased fares from Friday.
Mainline season tickets will rise by up to 2.5%, while Tube fares will also go up by more than 2%.
CBT's public transport campaigner Martin Abrams said: "Yet again, the Government is hiking up commuter rail fares. Ticket prices are rising much faster than wages, which means getting to work takes up an increasing share of incomes, hitting both household budgets and the economy.
"The Government urgently needs to adopt a fairer approach to ticketing, bringing fares down and introducing more flexible tickets to help groups like the millions who work part-time."
On Saturday, Network Rail came under further pressure when all trains to and from King's Cross station were cancelled at short notice, leaving hundreds stranded after Christmas.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has called on Network Rail to give the people answers following the "totally unacceptable" decision to close the station.
Network Rail chief Mark Carne, who today announced he would not be taking his annual bonus of £135k, apologised for the mess up.
He said: "While we have completed a huge amount of work across the country which will improve millions of journeys, the last few days for many passengers have been miserable and again I apologise for the disruption this caused.
"We have an obligation to manage the essential safety maintenance and renewal activity that is required.
But added: "The events over the Christmas period highlighted the unacceptable impact on the travelling public when plans go wrong."
New Year travellers to face long delays AND fare rises
THOUSANDS of Brits hoping to get away for New Year will face further problems on the trains with the winter rush leaving many lines FROZEN in action.
Technical problems and overdue repair works have left festive travellers seething over the Christmas period, with hundreds of journeys being cut short in the lead up to the New Year.
And train companies are now preparing to face a heavy backlash with the delays following annual fare rises on Friday.
Today, train company East Coast warned passengers of likely delays during the period of reduced services.
And passengers travelling from London to Edinburgh experienced the disruptions first-hand with some journeys being terminated on route towards Newcastle.
Elsewhere, a major West Coast line, which suffered severe delays in Wembley north west London yesterday, also suffered problems due to a broken-down train at Bushey in Hertfordshire today.
While trains on another West Coast line were brought to a standstill after signalling failure near Stafford.
And an overhead wire problem at Dunbar in Scotland resulted in long rush-hour delays this morning.
Others travelling on links to and from busy stations including London Euston, Liverpool Lime Street, Crewe and Chester also experienced heavy disruptions - with many stranded for up to an hour.
Tube travellers are also likely struggle getting around the capital in the coming days with a number of planned engineering works to take place.
Parts of the Jubilee, District and Circle lines will be shut off at certain times this week, adding more pressure on running routes.
The delays come just days before passengers gear up to pay increased fares from Friday.
Mainline season tickets will rise by up to 2.5%, while Tube fares will also go up by more than 2%.
CBT's public transport campaigner Martin Abrams said: "Yet again, the Government is hiking up commuter rail fares. Ticket prices are rising much faster than wages, which means getting to work takes up an increasing share of incomes, hitting both household budgets and the economy.
"The Government urgently needs to adopt a fairer approach to ticketing, bringing fares down and introducing more flexible tickets to help groups like the millions who work part-time."
On Saturday, Network Rail came under further pressure when all trains to and from King's Cross station were cancelled at short notice, leaving hundreds stranded after Christmas.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has called on Network Rail to give the people answers following the "totally unacceptable" decision to close the station.
Network Rail chief Mark Carne, who today announced he would not be taking his annual bonus of £135k, apologised for the mess up.
He said: "While we have completed a huge amount of work across the country which will improve millions of journeys, the last few days for many passengers have been miserable and again I apologise for the disruption this caused.
"We have an obligation to manage the essential safety maintenance and renewal activity that is required.
But added: "The events over the Christmas period highlighted the unacceptable impact on the travelling public when plans go wrong."
New Year travellers to face long delays AND fare rises
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