TRAINS to London on the Shepperton branch line will return to pre-Omicron levels this month, South Western Railways (SWR) has announced.

A timetable 'almost identical' to that of December 2021 is set to be reintroduced by the company on 21 February.

Last month, trains to London on the Shepperton line were slashed from two to one per hour as part of a temporary timetable change across the South Western Railway network.

The company blamed the cuts on the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant which they say led to staff shortages.

At the same time, one rail expert told Nub News that SWR were also experiencing shortages in the number of physical trains available.

The changes to services left stations from Fulwell to Shepperton with just one train per hour in both directions outside of rush-hour and Saturday times.

The move outraged commuters and local MPs, who lobbied against the changes.

Hampton resident Tom Gaymor told Nub News: "One train per hour to a station in a London borough is ridiculous."

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He added: "The Covid cuts are no ones fault I understand that, but if you compare the impact to Hampton residents compared to Teddington you'll see my frustrations."

Amber Pullin, who has lived in Hampton for 20 years and has a job that requires her to commuter into London, was also left fuming by the changes.

"I've never written to my MP in my life but I was so incandescent that I did," she told Nub News.

"I think a lot of people in Hampton have done that."

Amber, who pays £46.50 per week to use the trains, added: "It's the way they did it, they just decided they were going to cancel it - everyone's at the mercy of SWR."

South Western Railway defended the cuts, however, stating on its website the the timetable change "has ensured reliability for our customers and catered to key workers, school pupils and those who cannot work from home."

The new timetable will see trains on the Shepperton to London branch return to twice an hour in both directions, plus more early-morning services at rush-hour times.

But in a change from December, the 7am Shepperton to Waterloo via Richmond service will not be running on weekdays.

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SWR Managing Director Claire Mann said today: "It has been a difficult period for our railway and the customers it serves, with significant staff shortages giving us no choice but to temporarily reduce our timetable last month.

"With staff availability now consistently improving, we are pleased to be able to announce this uplift, which will essentially see service levels return to where they were prior to the spread of Omicron.

"More and more people are returning to our railway, and this timetable will ensure that we match capacity and demand while delivering reliability for customers."

Details of the new Feb 21 timetable can be found HERE