East Midlands Railway is warning rail customers of strike action on Saturday the 2nd of December by union ASLEF, which will see the rail operator unable to run any services.

ASLEF has introduced a new programme of industrial actions against 16 train companies and will make use of a new staggered approach from the 1st to the 9th of December in order to create an array of negative effects which will lead to widespread disruption and cancellations throughout the rail network, impacting different operators on different days.

East Midlands Railway services are anticipated to be extremely busy during the period of industrial action and may see some customers unable to board their service of choice. The rail operator is advising customers to visit its website in order to discover how their travel plans could be affected, with attention paid to the impact created across different train operators on differing dates.

Friday the 1st of December: 

• EMR services are likely to be extremely busy as the rail operator cannot run any services on Saturday the 2nd of December

Saturday the 2nd of December:

• EMR will not be running any service – please do not travel!

Sunday the 3rd of December:

EMR Services will be extremely busy as engineering works take place on the East Coast Mainline alongside strike action impacting other train operators which run services to London. This will see EMR Intercity services, especially those heading to London St. Pancras, will see a substantial increase in passenger numbers. In order to support this, EMR has cancelled a number of Regional services to free up resources.

• Intercity services will not call at Bedford and Luton
• Connect services will operate a normal Sunday timetable
• Southbound Connect services will begin at 10:00 from Corby to Kettering only
• The first southbound service from Corby to London St Pancras will be at 11:41
• The first northbound service from London St Pancras to Corby will be at 12:14
• No services will operate between Derby and Crewe
• No services will operate between Sleaford and Skegness
• No services will operate between Nottingham and Liverpool Lime Street

EMR Travel Advice for Rail Passengers as Further Strikes Approach// Credit: EMRMonday the 4th of December through to Saturday the 9th of December: 

• ASLEF union members will take action short of strike, and therefore customers are advised to visit the EMR website by clicking here to discover the very latest information.

Will Rogers, Managing Director of East Midlands Railway, said:

“This industrial action is a new approach from the ASLEF union. Its staggered designed means different parts of the network and different train operating companies are affected at different times. Unfortunately, this will mean customers could be impacted by a complicated period of possible delays and disruption.”

“We cannot run any services on Saturday, December 2 – while services will be extremely busy on Sunday, December 3.”

“The safety of customers is our number one priority and so passengers should expect crowd control measures in some stations. Customers are strongly advised to check our website to understand how their whole journey is affected before setting off and can expect possible disruption or late notice cancellations.”