Services on Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern, and Thameslink are set to be disrupted in early December because of a nationwide ban on overtime by the ASLEF union.

The industrial action is due to last from Friday, 1 to Saturday, 9 December, but services will run to different timetables each day, trains may start later and finish earlier, and on some days a small number of stations will have no service at all.

To help customers plan their journeys and provide more certainty with fewer short notice on-the-day alterations. Southeastern will operate to an amended timetable with fewer services across the entire network. There will be no Gatwick Express services, but Gatwick Airport will still be served by Southern and Thameslink trains.

As services will be much busier than usual, especially in the peak hours, there will be some disruption and long queues, and as some passengers may not be able to board their chosen service, extra time should be allowed for travel during this period.

Travellers are advised to check their journeys at nationalrail.co.uk before setting out. Online journey planners for the first three days of disruption, from 1-3 December, have already been updated and the remaining days travel will follow shortly.

On strike days there will be no rail replacement bus services.

Daily alterations:

Saturday, 2 December (network wide) and Sunday, 3 December (Southern only):

• trains will start later and finish earlier.
• Southern stations west of Barnham will have no service.
• On Sunday there will be no trains east of Eastbourne.

Sunday, 3 December:

• no Great Northern or Thameslink service.

Monday, 4 December

• Thameslink and Great Northern trains will start later between 0700 and 0900.

Wednesday, 6 December:

• no Southern trains will except for a limited shuttle service between 7 am and 11 pm calling at London Victoria and Gatwick Airport only.
• Thameslink trains between Sevenoaks and Blackfriars will not run via Bat and Ball, Otford, Eynsford, Shoreham, Swanley and St Mary Cray.

Thursday 7 December:

• Southern trains will start later between 0700 and 0900.

Saturday, 9 December;

• all trains will start later and finish earlier;
• stations west of Barnham will have no service.

Sunday, 10 December:

• The new winter timetable will begin.

Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director, said: “We’re really sorry for the disruption customers will experience as we make significant timetable changes during this period of sustained national industrial action.

“I strongly urge customers to check every journey, every day, so they aren’t caught out.

“No two consecutive days will be the same, so please plan all your journeys carefully, including any connections with other operators, in advance at nationalrail.co.uk, and once again before you set off.

“Industrial action is terrible for everyone, and we hope for a national resolution as soon as possible.”