Rail firms warn about train strike disruption this weekend

UPDATE – the strike action has been cancelled, but severe disruption is still expected on the Saturday and possibly Monday as well.

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With several days of strikes on the railways starting this Saturday, the rail industry is warning of serious disruption and that passengers should only travel by rail if absolutely necessary.

The main dates for the strikes on National Rail are:

• Saturday 5th November
• Monday 7th November
• Tuesday 8th November (smaller strike by TSSA)
• Wednesday 9th November

There is also a London Underground/Overground strike on Thursday 10th November.

The impact will be felt from throughout the week of the strike, with trains likely to start later or finish earlier than usual on the days between the strikes.

Special timetables are being produced by the national rail companies and will be released a few days before each strike day, but passengers are being warned that some parts of the country will have little or no rail services. Passengers are asked to only travel by train if it is absolutely necessary, allow extra time and check when their first and last train will depart.

Although specific timetables are still to be published, based on previous strikes, what few services that do run are likely to be from around 8am and journeys need to be completed by 5pm-6:30pm depending on the specific train company’s plans.

A walkout by rail staff will affect the following train operators – click on links to the train company’s strike information pages.

• Avanti West Coast
• c2c
• Chiltern Railways
• Cross Country Trains
• East Midlands Railway
• Gatwick Express 
• Great Northern
• Great Western Railway (GWR)
• Greater Anglia
• Heathrow Express
• LNER
• Northern Trains
• Southeastern
• South Western Railway
• Southern
• Stansted Express
• Thameslink
• Transpennine Express
• West Midlands Trains

Services along the East Coast Main Line are also affected by long-planned engineering works which will still take place.

For specific travel enquiries, contact the train company directly using the links above.

• The timetable for Sat 5th November will be published on 1st November;
• The timetable for Mon 7th November will be published on 3rd November; and
• The timetable for Wed 9th November will be published on 5th November