DISRUPTION has returned to Southern Rail lines just two weeks after a timetable shake-up.

More services running from Brighton’s mainline were late or cancelled than on time yesterday, with Southern reportedly not even giving a warning that some had been stopped.

One commuter contacted us to say the new 8.14am Thameslink service to Cambridge was cancelled – but passengers were not told.

Govia Thameslink Railway, Southern’s parent company, said delays were to be expected in the first few weeks following on from the timetable change.

But a Southern source who has access to driver and route information told The Argus yesterday the disruption is down to a lack of trained drivers.

They said: “They haven’t been fully trained and they only know part of the route. Then we haven’t got enough to have someone waiting at the station where there’s supposed to be a handover, so the outbound service gets cancelled.”

At the time the paper went to print last night, just 29 per cent of the 95 trains running were running on time, with the rest running at least five minutes late or cancelled.

Extra trains from Brighton to London were added as part of the new timetable, but does not seem to have changed the problems from before it was introduced.

Govia said this problem is likely to continue for another month, though would not answer our question about why the disruption is happening.

The company said station information screens “now only show what is running as a result of this change”.

Emily Yates, co-founder of the Association of British Commuters, said: “Over the last two weeks we have watched the launch – and immediate collapse – of the new Rail Plan 2020 timetable.

“Passengers have once again fallen victim to the Department for Transport’s failure of oversight and Govia’s inability to provide enough fully trained drivers. We urge all MPs to speak out and call Chris Grayling to account for once again presiding over Southern Rail chaos.”

A Govia spokesman said: “We apologise to passengers for the continued disruption linked to the introduction of the new timetable. We are working on a recovery plan with rail industry partners.

“Meanwhile, as late notice changes continue to be made, we ask passengers to check train times on the day of travel. We expect disruption to ease over the coming month.”