Passengers aiming to travel for a Christmas break using Great Western Railway services are being advised to travel as early as they can, to reserve a seat and to only travel if completely necessary on Christmas Eve. Customers who have to travel by rail on Christmas Eve need to have finished their travel by lunchtime.

Industrial action taking place next week will also mean that customers need to keep checking train times ahead of making their journey due to the possibility of short-notice cancellations, especially regarding late-night services.

The strike action and action short of a strike (overtime ban) are being carried out by trade unions during the Christmas period and into the new year and will see rail services impacted from this weekend and also from the 24th of December through to the 8th of January 2023.

Tuesday the 27th of December will see services begin after midday and will be markedly reduced with a revised timetable in operation. Further to the strike action, planned engineering work will also impact some routes. Short-notice changes or cancellations are possible and customers are once again advised to check travel plans ahead of making their journey and to travel as early as possible.

RMT will hold strike days on the 17th of December, the 3rd and 4th of January and the 6th and 7th of January which will mean that extremely limited services will be able to operate across a small number of routes. Customers are advised to only travel is completely necessary during these dates which will see some of the Great Western Railway network with no service at all. Services which are able to operate will commence later than usual (07.30) with all journeys ending by 18.30.

Days between strike action (5th of January) will also see a reduced timetable in operation as trains will start service later.

Days after strike action (18th of December and 8th of January) will also see trains start later and could also see short notice cancellations and changes put in place.

TSSA union has also revealed that it will take strike action on the 28th and 29th of December and will see the ongoing disruption of train services with a substantially lower level of operation.

During days impacted by strike action, passengers are advised to use alternative transport methods. Where services are able to run, customers should only travel by train if absolutely necessary with advice given to make a seat reservation.

Train operators across the country are also impacted by this industrial action and this could affect onward travel.

Trains which can operate are anticipated to be extremely busy.

Customers who already hold tickets for strike days are able to make a  claim for a full refund or alter their ticket. Passengers who opt to travel and are delayed could still be able to claim  Delay Repay compensation if they are delayed by 15 minutes or more.

To support customers, their tickets will  be valid for travel on differing days on Great Western Railway services:

• Tickets for the 16th and 17th of December can be used the day before, or up to and including Tuesday the 20th of December
• Tickets for the 24th and 27th of December can be used the day before (where applicable), or up to and including Thursday the 29th of December
• Tickets for the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th of January can be used the day before, or up to and including Tuesday the 10th of January

Customers who hold season tickets are able to apply for compensation via the Delay Repay scheme.

For further information including when journey planners will be updated with the most up-to-date train times please visit: https://www.gwr.com/strike