RMT industrial action will see disruption for passengers using Manchester Piccadilly station on Saturday the 5th, Monday the 7th and Wednesday the 9th of November. Passengers are advised to check their journeys ahead as the trains which do operate will finish much earlier than usual.

Manchester Piccadilly will only see four trains depart each hour, on a normal non-striking day, this figure would see an average of 30 departures each hour.

Right across the country, only 20% of trains will be operating with just half of the rail network open.

Timetables have been published for Saturday the 5th and Monday the 7th of November and are now avabilable on the National Rail journey planner. Timetables for Wednesday the 9th will be published on Saturday the 5th of November.

The last trains will leave Manchester Piccadilly between 3pm and 5pm and final arrivals at the station will be 6.30pm. The station will be fully closed at 7pm on each of the strike days.

People are being advised to only travel by train if it is completely necessary during the ongoing strike action by RMT union members.

Passengers who do need to travel on strike days should check their travel via www.nationalrail.co.uk to get a good view of what to expect.

Passengers can also check via their rail operators as follows:

• Avanti West Coast: Strike Action Travel Information page
• Northern: Strike Important Information Page
• TransPennine Express: Strike Action Check Before You Travel page
• CrossCountry: Industrial Action page
• East Midlands Railway: Strike Information page
• Transport for Wales: Rail Industrial Action page

Network Rail is endeavouring to provide passengers with the best possible service, however, trains will be substantially limited with some routes seeing no trains run at all.

Fully qualified and specially trained backup staff from across the country are stepping up to support the network during the walkouts in order to keep essential services operating.

Phil James, Network Rail’s North West route director, said: “It’s hugely frustrating that once again rail passengers across the North West will be disrupted due to unnecessary strike action despite our best efforts to reach a compromise with the unions. This means once again many North West routes won’t be served at all, causing misery for millions of rail passengers. With a fraction of the usual workforce available, including signallers who safely move trains around the network, there will be a severely limited service during the RMT strike action on the 5, 7 and 9 November.

“I can only apologise for the impact another RMT strike will have on people’s lives. It is frustrating to yet again ask our passengers to change their plans and only make absolutely necessary journeys. I’d also please ask anyone who does try to travel to be kind to our staff who are working, as all will be trying to provide the best advice they can for people while a very limited train service is running.”

On mornings following strike days, passengers should expect further disruption as employees return to their positions at differing times.

Further to national strike action by RMT, additional industrial action will see: Sunday 6 November:

RMT industrial action by Avanti West Coast train managers will see the rail operators timetable reduced substantially and it is expected that services which are able to run will be extremely busy.