Saturday 23 December 2017

Short Notice Closure?

At about half past five today (Saturday) I was rather startled to see a long string of VSTP (Very Short Term Planning) timetable updates which have cancelled every train on the Liverpool/Wigan/Preston service tomorrow.

I am not aware of any announced closure of this line on Christmas Eve so if this is genuine there will be some unhappy people at St Helens station tomorrow.

I notice National Rail are still showing the trains as running, suggesting this is merely a database wobble.  Let's hope so!   I wonder if someone has pressed the wrong button shortly before going home.

P.S. I checked Real Time Trains, and they also show the trains as cancelled, so at least I can rule out a problem in my software.

Update Sunday 10:00:  National Rail are now showing these as cancelled due to shortage of train crew, and so far nothing has run through St Helens.

Update Sunday 13:45:  A handful of services have just been re-instated, with one train making two out and back trips Liverpool - Wigan.