The next nationwide rail strike staged by members of the RMT union is taking place on Thursday 18 August.
The industrial action involves around 40,000 employees across Network Rail and 14 train operators, from cleaners and station staff to signallers and guards, plus around 2,500 members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA).
Disruption is expected to continue into Friday morning (compounded in London by a 24-hour Tube strike the same day).
But which lines are affected and will any trains be running?
Which train operators are affected by the strike?
- Chiltern Railways
- CrossCountry
- Greater Anglia
- LNER
- East Midlands Railway
- c2c
- Great Western Railway
- Northern Trains
- South Eastern
- South Western Railway
- TransPennine Express
- Avanti West Coast
- West Midlands Trains
- GTR (including Gatwick Express)
- London Overground
- Hull Trains
- London Northwestern Railway
The UK rail network will not shut down completely, but most trains will be cancelled across England, Wales and Scotland. Around one fifth of train services are expected to run.
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern operates trains between London Marylebone and Oxford, Birmingham and Aylesbury, calling at tourist hotspots including shopping mecca Bicester Village. It has said that “a significantly reduced timetable will be in operation, with no service north of Banbury” on Thursday, while on Friday “services will start later and finish earlier than usual”.
CrossCountry
CrossCountry, whose hub is in Birmingham New Street, runs a range services, going as far south as Penzance, north up to Aberdeen, west to Cardiff with trains also running to key destinations including Stansted airport, Manchester Piccadilly, Bournemouth, Glasgow and Nottingham.
On Thursday, the entire Cardiff Central to Nottingham line is closed.
No trains will run between: Bristol Temple Meads and Penzance; Edinburgh and Aberdeen and Glasgow Central; Stoke-on-Trent and Stockport; Leicester and Stansted Airport; and Southampton Central and Bournemouth.
On the parts of the routes that are open, a reduced timetable generally sees one train per hour. From Birmingham New St to Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley there are only two trains running (at 11.03 and 13.03).
Greater Anglia
“Avoid travelling with us,” says Greater Anglia of 18 August. “Our services will be severely reduced and disrupted. It’s likely that most routes won’t have trains or bus replacements for them.”
It is also warning that some morning services won’t run the following day but should be back…
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