LONDON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- British residents hoping to take get home for Christmas by rail Friday are likely to have difficult trips, with some operators canceling 25 percent of services.
Overall, about 10 percent of trains will not be running, The Daily Telegraph reported, but the percentage is considerably higher on some lines.
About 1.5 million people were expected to ride the rails on Christmas Eve. Because air travel is still in chaos from the storm earlier in the week, the number could be even higher.
The bad weather also affected rail travel, with some lines not running at all when the weather was at its worst. Ten operators were running on amended timetables Thursday.
Passenger advocates accused the operators of canceling trains to avoid the legal penalties for failing to keep to the schedule. Trains that are canceled by 10 p.m. the previous evening do not count.
To add to the misery, track work on lines from London to Glasgow, South Wales, Cornwall and East Anglia is expected to cause significant delays. UPI
