Rail passengers in Britain are being urged to check before travelling next month because of fresh strikes and an overtime ban by train drivers that will disrupt services.
Some train operators will not run any services and there will be short notice cancellations because of the industrial action as part of a long-running pay dispute.
Members of the drivers’ union Aslef will stage a series of one-day strikes across different train operators between December 2nd and 8th, as well as an overtime ban across all train companies from December 1st-9th.
Revised timetables are being prepared and should be available by November 30th.
Passengers who have to travel have been warned to expect disruption, plan ahead and check when their first and last train will depart.
The strikes will affect services on 17 train companies, with wide regional variations expected.
Some operators will run no services at all on strike days and those that are running will start later and finish much earlier than usual – typically between 7.30am and 6.30pm.
It is likely that services on some lines will be affected on the evening before and morning after each strike between December 2 and 8 because rolling stock will not be in the right depots.
A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group said: “This unnecessary and avoidable industrial action called by the Aslef leadership has been targeted to disrupt customers and businesses ahead of the vital festive period, where people will be attending events and catching up with friends and loved ones.
“It will also inflict further damage on an industry that is receiving up to an additional £175 million a month in taxpayer cash to keep services running, following the Covid downturn.
“As the level of service varies across the country, our advice is to check before you travel and follow the latest travel information. Customers with Advance, Anytime or Off-Peak tickets for travel between Saturday 2 December – Friday 8 December can instead use their tickets any time between Friday 1 December up until Tuesday 12 December. Those with Advance tickets can be refunded fee-free if the train that the ticket is booked for is cancelled, delayed, or rescheduled.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. The Aslef leadership are blocking a fair and affordable offer made by the industry in the Spring that would take average driver base salaries for a four-day week from £60,000 to nearly £65,000.
“We urge them to put it to its members, give Christmas back to our customers and end this damaging industrial dispute.”
The strikes will affect the following operators:
December 2nd – East Midlands and LNER.
December 3rd – Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, West Midlands Trains, Great Northern/Thameslink.
December 5th – C2C, Greater Anglia.
December 6th – Southeastern, Southern, Gatwick Express, South Western Railway, Island Line.
December 7th – CrossCountry, Great Western Railway.
December 8th – Northern, TransPennine.
Aslef members in all the companies will ban overtime from December 1st-9th.
