Sunday services rely on volunteers

Central Trains, whose staff work on a voluntary basis on Sundays, said not enough staff had come forward to crew all its services.

Some routes ran with a reduced service while other routes were replaced with a bus service.

A spokeswoman said there was also a series of engineering works planned.

This Sunday we have had a lower than normal number of volunteers Rachel Webster, Central Trains

Rachel Webster, from Central Trains, said: "Drivers and conductors who work for the company work on a voluntary basis on Sundays.

"This Sunday we have had a lower than normal number of volunteers.

"This is overtime they can earn.

"From time to time if we don't get enough staff volunteering who can work on these routes then we have to set up other contingency plans."

Reduced services

A series of pre-planned engineering works, affecting routes covering Walsall, Birmingham, Coventry, Rugby, Kidderminster and Worcester, meant buses would be replacing trains.

And staff shortages meant buses instead of trains ran on routes between Birmingham New Street, Bromsgrove and between Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield.

Buses also ran between Nottingham, Grantham, Sleaford and Skegness.

Reduced train services operated between Birmingham, Stafford, Crewe and Liverpool and between Birmingham, Nuneaton, Leicester, Peterborough, Ely, Cambridge and Stansted Airport.

Customers travelling between Birmingham and Derby, Cardiff, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool were advised to find alternative routes.