Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2021 to Question 133116 on Railways: Coronavirus, what measures his Department introduced to ensure the safety of railway staff on Saturday 19 December 2020.

Our priority is ensuring the safety of hard-working frontline railway staff, who are helping passengers at stations and keeping key services on the network running.

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 on to 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) also 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.