A DIRECT train between Weymouth and London Waterloo is returning after South Western Railway announced it will reinstate the pre-Omicron timetable.

From Monday, February 21, the train operator will revert back to its previous services which means commuters travelling towards the capital will no longer have to change at Bournemouth.

South Western Railway (SWR) says improved staff availability means they can increase the number of trains it runs without comprising on reliability.

SWR managing director, Claire Mann, said: “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.”

The timetable will be almost identical to the one that served customers in December, meaning that a whole host of services, including through trains to and from Weymouth to London Waterloo will be reinstated.

Along with services from Exeter to London, which also previously had direct trains slashed.

However, a small number of services that ran in December 2021 are not being reinstated as because SWR says they aim to ‘effectively match capacity with demand,' however, these differences do not impact Dorset.

These services are the 07.38 from Southampton Central to Waterloo, the 17.02 London Waterloo to Guildford, 07.00 Shepperton to Waterloo and the 08.15 from Waterloo to Waterloo (via Hounslow).

Previously South Western Railway introduced a temporary timetable in response to staff absences caused by the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The train operator said doing so ‘ensured reliability for customers during a challenging period’ and the return of the timetable ‘the uplift is timely as more people return to the railway following the government’s work from home instruction being lifted’.

Details of the new timetable can be found via the South Western Railway timeline.