There is expected to be severe disruption to train services later this week, due to strike action on Wednesday 1st and Friday 3rd February, as train drivers who are members of the Aslef union go on strike.
The strikes will affect services on 14 train companies with trains due to start later and finish much earlier than usual – typically between 7.30am and 6.30pm.
Most of the affected train companies have announced that they will be closed all day, although Greater Anglia, GWR and LNER say that they will be running a limited service.
It is also likely that evening services on some lines will be affected on the days before each strike. Morning services on those lines may also be disrupted on Thursday 2nd and Saturday 4th February because much of the rolling stock will not be in the right depots.
None of the TfL services in London are affected by this strike, although there is unrelated industrial action on the Elizabeth line at the moment that can lead to larger gaps between trains than normal.
The following national rail train companies affected by the strikes on 1 and 3 February are:
Avanti West Coast
No trains at all on either day
Chiltern Railways
No trains at all on either day
CrossCountry
No trains at all on either day
East Midlands Railway
No trains at all on either day
Gatwick Express
No trains at all on either day
Great Western Railway (GWR)
GWR will run an extremely reduced service on a limited number of routes – mainly between the major cities.
Greater Anglia
- One train per hour between Norwich and London Liverpool Street; Colchester and London Liverpool Street; Cambridge and London Liverpool Street and between Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street. The first services will start from 8am onwards and our last services will finish earlier than usual.
- One Stansted Express train per hour between Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street. First service from the airport is at 05:42 and last is at 00:30. First service from London is at 04:40 and last is 23:25.
- No services running on other lines, including regional/branch lines
Great Northern
No trains at all on either day
London North Eastern Railway (LNER)
There will be a limited service between London and Leeds, and between London and Edinburgh Waverley.
Northern Trains
No trains at all on either day
Southeastern
No trains at all on either day
Southern
No trains at all on either day
Thameslink
No trains at all on either day
TransPennine Express
No trains at all on either day
West Midlands Trains
No trains at all on either day
Strike day ticketing arrangements
Passengers with Advance, Anytime or Off-Peak tickets for travel on 1 or 3 February can instead use their ticket on the day before the date on the ticket or up to and including Tuesday 7th February. They can also have their ticket refunded with no fee if the train that the ticket is booked for is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled.
If the Advance ticket is for a train that is scheduled for a strike day, is not cancelled, delayed or rescheduled, but a customer prefers not to travel, they should contact their ticket retailer.
Customers with 2 x Advance tickets (an outbound and a return), to be used as a return journey, may be able to get a fee free refund or change of journey for any unused legs/tickets, if one (either) of the legs is scheduled for a strike day. Customers should check with their ticket retailer.
Passengers with season tickets (flexi, monthly or longer), who do not travel, can claim 100% compensation for the strike dates through Delay Repay.
Passengers can check on the National Rail Enquiries website or their rail operator’s website for further travel advice.
GWR plans to run services between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads on strike days, with limited connections at Reading for Oxford, Basingtoke and Guildford/Redhill; at Swindon for Westbury; and at Bristol Temple Meads for Newport and Cardiff.
There will also be a few local services within Devon and Cornwall.
And South Western Railway will be running a full service including to and from Exeter St David’s – the only exception is that there will be no service on Island Line.
c2c also running a full service.