Railways: Passengers

(asked on 6th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the steps that were taken by (a) the Government, (b) the British Transport Police, (c) rail operators and (d) station and rail staff to respond to the sudden increase in the volume of passengers making use of the rail network on Saturday 19 December 2020 after the Government's announcement imposing Tier 4 covid-19 restrictions on London and the South East region on that day.


Answered by
Chris Heaton-Harris Portrait
Chris Heaton-Harris
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
This question was answered on 15th January 2021

Following the announcement on 19 December 2020, the Government and Chief Medical Officer urged people to avoid travelling unless essential to limit the risk of transmission, and the Department updated its safer travel guidance.

Rail operators had already taken steps to minimise the risk of overcrowding, for example by advising passengers to reserve tickets in advance and follow the safer travel guidance. Rail operators reacted quickly to the increase in passengers by adding additional carriages to trains and adding in extra trains wherever possible. In addition, extra staff were deployed quickly onto stations to help provide passenger assistance and manage the crowding that took place on a small number of central London stations for a brief period.

The British Transport Police (BTP) deployed additional officers on 19 December 2020. The Department continues to work closely with the BTP to build on existing measures to keep passengers and staff safe and promote COVID-19 compliance.

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