Can I get a refund if my train is cancelled due to the rail strikes?

Wednesday and Saturday’s national rail strikes – followed by more proposed for mid-August – will result in many cancelled and delayed journeys across the UK.

Though much of London’s TfL network will operate as normal, large swathes of the UK will face heavy disruption, including no trains leaving Blackpool, Bournemouth or Portsmouth stations.

On Wednesday 27 July, some 40,000 members of the RMT trade union will walk out for 24 hours.

Network Rail has published a special timetable for Wednesday, with first trains departing at 7am and last trains at around 6.30pm. It estimates that only a fifth of usual train services will run nationwide.

Meanwhile on Saturday 30 July, train drivers across eight rail companies will walk out for 24 hours as part of an Aslef union strike.

So what rights do you have if your pre-booked train is cancelled?

Here’s everything you need to know.

My train has been cancelled due to the strike. Can I get a refund?

Yes. If your scheduled train service is cancelled by the operator, you are entitled to either:

It doesn’t matter what type of ticket you purchased.

Even if your train isn’t cancelled, you may decide not to travel on a strike day due to the risk of disruption. If this is the case, Network Rail has confirmed you will also be able to claim a refund or change your journey time free of charge. “If you have purchased an Advance, Off-Peak or Anytime ticket and choose not to travel, you will be eligible for a change or refund from the original retailer of your ticket,” it explains on its website.

If changing the date and time of your journey works better for you, it’s worth noting that most companies have increased flexibility around the summer strikes. GWR tells customers they can change the date and time of their train ticket (whatever type it is; Advance, Off-Peak and so on) for free up to 6pm the night before the journey.

Meanwhile, Avanti says: “We are allowing customers to exchange Advance tickets for a Rail Travel Voucher [to] amend them fee-free until 30 September 2022”. This means that, subject to availability, you’ll be able to use the voucher on a different day up until 30 September. You need to have booked through the rail operator’s own platform in order to arrange this with them.

In general, you should also be able to use your train ticket on a different…