Greater Anglia, which runs services out of London Liverpool Street station is warning that it expects severe disruption this weekend due to strike action.
They’re asking people to avoid travelling on their trains this Saturday, as the service will be severely reduced and disrupted, and also early morning services on Sunday will start later than usual.
As a result of the strike, Greater Anglia says that a skeleton service with far fewer trains and seats than normal will operate on some routes to and from London Liverpool Street, from 7.30am on Saturday, with the last trains leaving London between 3.25pm and 5.30pm.
There won’t be a bus replacement service.
Greater Anglia is also warning that it’s possible that some stations may have to be closed at very short notice due to a lack of staff – in which case trains would not be able to call at them and there would be no rail replacement bus service to them either.
Due to the strike by ASLEF members, there will be revised timetables on both the London to Norwich/Colchester, the London to Southend, and the London to Stanstead Airport routes.
The strike ballot was taken earlier this month, and 585 staff out of the 675 eligible to vote took part, with nearly all staff who voted did so in favour of strike action.
The strike may get larger next month if not resolved, as another union, the TSSA has also called a strike ballot for Greater Anglia staff, in a dispute over wages and conditions.
These strikes are separate from the RMT dispute that affected most of the national rail network earlier this month.
Is there any indication this will affect Shenfield branch services on the Elizabeth Line?
It won’t, because the strike is operator-specific and only affects train crew, not signalling staff. The only noticeable effect may be that some Elizabeth Line trains are busier than usual.
Will this affect travel to Norwich on Sunday lunchtime?