Staff shortages on LNER trains are having a direct impact on north-east passengers.
A number of services to and from Aberdeen have been cancelled in recent weeks, with many London routes only going as far as the Central Belt.
This has caused disruption for north-east passengers who are forced to find alternative travel options for part or all of their journeys.
Meanwhile, passengers attempting to make alternative arrangements to get to Edinburgh by rail are also facing disruption from an ongoing ScotRail overtime ban from RMT members, which is causing short-notice cancellations.
Disruption for several weeks
Since the start of the month, at least 20 services which were meant to serve Aberdeen or Inverness, have instead started or terminated in Edinburgh.
Today, only one of the four Aberdeen to London LNER journeys ran in full.
⚠️#LNERUpdate Due to a shortage of Train Crew, the following services will now start from #Edinburgh
07:52 #Aberdeen to #LondonKingsCross due 14:49
09:52 #Aberdeen to #LondonKingsCross due 16:48Alternative arrangements can be found here;https://t.co/OmFNCwKpcZ
— London North Eastern Railway (@LNER) October 17, 2022
The trains leaving the Granite City at 7.52am, 9.52am and 6.18pm instead started in Edinburgh due to a lack of train crews.
This means Aberdeen, Stonehaven, Montrose and Arbroath will be missed out, as well as Dundee, Leuchars, Kirkcaldy, Inverkeithing and Haymarket.
However, the LNER train from Aberdeen to London Kings Cross at 2.52pm departed as normal.
Alternative arrangements in place
Passengers are facing the same disruption when travelling north from London, with today’s 10am and 4pm journeys terminating at Edinburgh Waverly.
LNER announced this change in the early hours of Wednesday, after many people would have already bought their tickets.
⚠️#LNERUpdate Due to a shortage of Train Crew, the following services will now terminate at #Edinburgh
10:00 #KingsCross to #Aberdeen due 17:06
16:00 #KingsCross to #Aberdeen due 23:11
Alternative arrangements can be found here; https://t.co/OmFNCx2yr7
— London North Eastern Railway (@LNER) October 18, 2022
LNER has put alternative travel in place for most journeys by providing replacement coaches or suggesting different trains.
Replacement coaches are either travelling direct between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, or also stopping at the other missed locations, including Stonehaven, Montrose, Dundee and other north-east connections.
Some passengers have taken to social media to voice their concerns about then missing any pre-booked connecting trains.
For some routes, passengers have been advised to travel on a ScotRail service between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
However, ScotRail members of the RMT Union have recently implemented an overtime ban which could lead to further rail cancellations.
People are “strongly advised” to check their journey on the morning they are planning to travel in case of last-minute cancellations or alterations.
A LNER spokesman said: “We apologise to our customers for some current short-notice changes to our Aberdeen services.
“Customers are advised to check before they travel and book a seat in advance. We are proactively contacting customers who have booked directly with LNER and whose journeys may be affected.”
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