Grand Central suspends all Sunderland and Hartlepool trains and pauses new London services

The company, which runs daily services from the North-East to London’s King’s Cross station, said the measure was “necessary but temporary” following the public lockdown triggered by the coronavirus outbreak.

Services will be temporarily suspended from the end of Friday night and the majority of the company’s staff are to be placed on the Government’s furlough wage protection scheme.

Plans for an additional daily Sunderland-Hartlepool-King’s Cross service are also now “paused”.

Managing Director Richard McClean said: “So far we have offered a rail service, under a reduced timetable, in order to keep key-workers moving at a time of crisis. This comes with all the costs of running a train service, while bringing no ticket revenue to our business.

“This situation is unsustainable and, following several days of discussion with the Department for Transport (DfT), we have no alternative but to suspend our services.

“Customers who have a ticket to travel with Grand Central can claim a full refund from the place they bought their ticket.

“People who absolutely need to travel, in line with government restrictions, can use their Grand Central ticket to travel on other train companies’ services.”

“We have also paused, until early 2021, the preparations for our new Blackpool to London Euston services, and the launch of our planned extra daily trains on Grand Central’s Sunderland to Kings Cross route.”

He said Grand Central had held talks with the three main rail unions to ensure the best possible outcome for staff during the hibernation and that the company would make full use of the Government’s furlough scheme.

Mr McClean added: “A skeleton team will continue working to ensure Grand Central is ready to resume services as a thriving train operator, serving communities across the country, once restrictions ease.

“We recognise this will be disappointing news and we know how many people rely on our services and we thank all our customers for their fantastic support and understanding.”

Mr McClean also praised Grand Central staff, describing them as “professional, understanding and supportive throughout this situation”

Refund details are available at www.grandcentralrail.com