Service levels and jobs as risk as ministers, rail firms and health officials fret over passenger numbers on the railways
In all the change and loss during the pandemic, few have mourned the disappearance of the daily commute. Many rail passengers, battered in preceding years by strikes on Southern, the timetabling fiasco on Northern and technical woes on Great Western, have welcomed a break.
But leisure rail travel is booming again – and with schools set to return next week and many offices expected to fill up again for the first time since Britain lifted Covid restrictions, train operators are anxiously waiting to see whether commuting will follow.