COMMUTERS were hit with train chaos on Saturday with around half the trains from Worcester to Hereford cancelled. 

Train crew shortages meant that West Midlands Railway Services which stop at Worcester Foregate Street and Worcester Shrub Hill were impacted from the middle of Saturday morning. 

The chaos spread to other train lines with train crew shortages resulting in a reduced service on the Great Western Railway service between Worcester Foregate Street and Gloucester between 6pm and 9pm. 

Rail bosses put out a statement on Friday evening saying they were anticipating disruption and cancellations to services between Birmingham New Street and Hereford via Worcester Foregate Street and Shrub Hill. 

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The route between Worcester Foregate Street and Stratford Upon Avon, which calls at Kidderminster and Stourbridge, was also hit with cancellations. 
 
The disruption increased after 7pm, with only four of the eight trains travelling to Hereford running. 

In the opposite direction, two out of the final three services travelling between Worcester and Birmingham New Street were cancelled. 

Rail replacement buses were running from around 2pm onwards.

However, with the Birmingham Christmas Market open, rail replacement buses in the late evening were expected to be busy.

Commuters were advised by West Midlands Railway to consider travelling earlier in the evening for a more comfortable journey and not to rely on final connecting services in case these became oversubscribed.

Commuters took to social media to express their frustrations. 

Karen Gammon, who had already bought her tickets to go to Birmingham when news of the cancellations broke, said she was ' not happy' by news of the disruption. 

Jodie Griffin said the train service was absolutely disgusting, while Lianne Brant said she was now unsure how she would get home. 

Spokespeople for both WMR and GWR apologised for any inconvenience caused.

They added any passenger whose journey has been delayed by 15 minutes or more can claim compensation via the Delay Repay scheme.

Earlier this year, Hereford Sixth Form College hit out at West Midlands Railway as cancelled services were stopping their students, many of them from Worcester, from getting to lessons. 

At the time, the firm said it had developed an action plan to increase the number of drivers we have available to run a more reliable service.