Strike action by the RMT, Aslef and TSSA is set to take place on Saturday the 1st, Wednesday the 5th and Saturday the 8th of October

Similar to the ‘strike days’ carried out in June, July and August, thousands of specially trained and fully qualified backup staff will work during the walkouts in order to keep essential services operating for those that have to travel.

Saturday the 1st of October will see approximately 11% of services running.

Wednesday the 5th of October will see a walkout by train drivers and will affect 14 operators causing disruption for passengers using those routes. The operators impacted are Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Heathrow Express, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Northern, Southeastern, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.

Saturday the 8th of October will see a second strike day for RMT and will mean reduced rail services.

Passengers are also advised that on Sunday the 2nd, Thursday the 6th and Sunday the 9th of October some disruption is likely early in the morning due to workers returning to their positions.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “We want to give our employees a decent pay rise. It isn’t fair to ask taxpayers or passengers to fund this so we must fund it ourselves, which is achievable if the unions work with us to modernise and run the railway more efficiently.

“Our latest offer – an 8% pay rise over two years with other benefits – is affordable from within our own budget, but the RMT refuses to allow its members to vote on it. The decision by unions to strike again serves only to prolong disruption for passengers, undermine the railway’s recovery from the pandemic and ensure railway staff forgo even more of their pay unnecessarily.

“Our efforts to avert this disruption have unfortunately been in vain, so we’re asking passengers to only travel if absolutely necessary on strike days. Those who must travel should expect disruption and make sure they check when their last train will depart.”

Daniel Mann, Director of Industry Operations at Rail Delivery Group, said: “These strikes are unnecessary and damaging. They disrupt passengers’ plans, undermine struggling businesses, hit major events and harm the industry’s recovery.  It is particularly disheartening that next weekend’s strike will hit the plans of thousands of runners who have trained for months to take part in the iconic London Marathon. That will also punish the many charities, large and small, who depend on sponsorship money raised by such events to support the most vulnerable in our community.

“While we have done all we can to keep some services running, passengers should only travel by rail if absolutely necessary. Passengers with advance, off-peak or anytime tickets affected by the strikes on 1 October can use their ticket on the day before the booked date, or up to and including 4 October. Passengers can also change their tickets to travel on an alternate date or get a refund if their train is cancelled or rescheduled.”

Customers who have already booked travel on Wednesday the 5th of October will see the same flexibility applied on the day before the strike and will be able to use their tickets up to and including Friday the 7th of October.

Customers holding a season ticket or who have activated days’ worth of travel on their Flexi season ticket and elect not to travel on either the 1st or 5th of October will be able to claim compensation for these days via the Delay Repay scheme. Weekly Season ticket holders will also be able to claim through Delay Repay if their train is either delayed or cancelled or a ‘Do Not Travel’ warning is applied.

Those who absolutely need to travel during strike days or who already have a ticket should check via their train operator ahead of travel for advice on the flexibility of their ticket.

Passengers can also check their travel plans via National Rail Enquiries or using their rail operator’s website to find out if their operator will be affected by the strike action.

Advice for anyone travelling by train for the London Marathon can be found here: https://www.tcslondonmarathon.com/news-and-media/latest-news/rail-industrial-action-on-saturday-1-october