Strike action is set to cause disruption for rail passengers on Saturday the 5th, Monday the 7th and Wednesday the 9th of November with the days between strike action also seeing disruption in the early morning caused as staff return to their positions at different times of the day.
Timetables for services which are able to operate this Saturday (5th November) have now been made available on the National Rail journey planner.
Timetables for Monday (7th November) and Wednesday (9th November) are expected to be published on Thursday the 3rd and Saturday the 5th of November respectively.
Sadly, disruption cannot be avoided and passengers are being warned to only travel by train if absolutely necessary. The industrial action will see fully qualified and specially trained backup staff come forward to support the network during the strikes in order to keep essential services moving for those who need to use them as per previous strike days.
Passengers are also being reminded that the trains which can operate will commence later in the morning and will finish much earlier than usual in the evening with some parts of the rail network will see no trains running at all.
Saturday the 5th of November will see:
- An extremely limited London North Eastern Rail service in operation is due to both industrial action and planned engineering work.
- No LNER services will travel further south than Doncaster
London Underground and Overground will see further service disruption due to industrial action on Thursday the 10th of November.
Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “It’s so frustrating that passengers are yet again facing heavy disruption or cancellations to their rail journeys because of unnecessary strike action by unions. A fair and affordable two-year 8% deal, with heavily discounted travel and an improved offer of job security to January 2025, remains on the table which could bring this dispute to an end. I understand how disappointing this disruption is for rail users, however, I must ask that they only travel if absolutely necessary during strike days.”
Steve Montgomery, chair of the Rail Delivery Group, said: “We’re sorry that a decision was taken by the RMT leadership to impose further strike action which will bring widespread disruption for passengers and businesses, especially affecting families planning to attend the bonfire night celebrations. It is particularly disheartening that next weekend’s strike will hit the plans of thousands of rugby fans who are planning to travel to Cardiff for Wales v New Zealand as well as the other sports fixtures happening across the country. These damaging and unnecessary strikes not only disrupt passengers’ plans and undermine struggling businesses, but also harm the industry’s recovery with the June strikes costing the hospitality sector around half a billion pounds.
“Further strikes mean that more of our people lose pay and there is less money to fund a pay rise. We urge the unions to recognise that the railway industry is facing a very real financial challenge and work with us towards a fair deal that offers a pay rise and includes the long-overdue changes to the industry so that our services are more reliable, more affordable and inspire more passengers back on board.
“While we will do all that we can to minimise disruption if you are going to travel on the routes affected, please plan ahead and check the latest travel advice. Passengers with advance, off-peak or anytime tickets affected by the strikes can use their ticket for travel the day before the date on the ticket or up to and including Friday 11th November. Passengers can also change their tickets to travel on an alternate date or get a refund if their train is cancelled or rescheduled.”
Rail Customers are advised to check with their rail operator for further up-to-date information or via https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ for travel updates.
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