Starting tomorrow and throughout the weekend, train passengers across the West Midlands are set to suffer significant disruption to their journeys due to industrial action by union members.
Tomorrow, Friday, 4th November, members of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) at some train operators will be carrying out industrial action, on Saturday, 5th November, Network Rail and train operator staff who are members of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will strike, then on Sunday, 6th November Avanti West Coast train managers who are members of the RMT union will be taking industrial action.
The timings of the strikes coincide with the start of Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas market and Bonfire Night celebrations.
During the three days of strikes there will be a very limited number of services as follows:
Friday, 4th November:
West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway will run a very limited service from 7.30am to 7.30pm, and only on the following routes:
- Birmingham – Crewe – Liverpool (including local journeys between Birmingham – Wolverhampton);
- Birmingham – Northampton – London Euston;
- The Cross City Line between Lichfield – Birmingham – Redditch/Bromsgrove
There will be no services on the following routes:
- West Midlands Railway services on any other route, including Birmingham – Shrewsbury and Birmingham – Worcester – Hereford
- Chiltern Railways services north of Birmingham Moor Street
- CrossCountry services between Cardiff – Birmingham – Nottingham
Saturday, 5th November:
- All train operators that use Birmingham New Street station will be affected by the industrial action, and a special timetable will be in operation.
- Trains will not start until 7.00am and last trains will leave between 3.00pm and 5.00pm with final arrivals by 6.30pm
- Birmingham New Street station will close completely at 7.00pm
Sunday, 6th November:
- Avanti West Coast services will be significantly reduced and services that do run will be very busy.
On the morning after each strike day, there will be continued disruption to services with a later start as employees return to work.
Further information about the effect of services on strike days can be found at:
- Avanti West Coast's information page at
https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/travel-information/plan-your-journey/strike - West Midlands Railways' information page at
https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/travel-information/journey-planning/service-disruption/industrial-action - London Northwestern Railway's information page at
https://www.londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/journey-planning/service-disruptions/industrial-action - CrossCountry's information page at https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/disruption
- Transport for Wales' information page at https://tfw.wales/industrial-action
- Chiltern Railways' information page at https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/strike
The RMT is also staging strike action next week on Monday, 7th and Wednesday, 9th November, and there will be limited train services to the same arrangements as on Saturday, 5th November.
Timetables for services this Saturday are available on the National Rail journey planner at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/. Timetables for next Monday and Wednesday will be published later today and Saturday respectively.
Steven Ireland, Network Rail's director of stations for Birmingham New Street, said: “It's so frustrating that passengers are yet again facing heavy disruption or cancellations to their rail journeys because of unnecessary strike action by unions.
“As we're now gearing up for the festive season it also disrupts passengers who want to make the most of Birmingham's city centre events and the Christmas Markets. On strike days I'd urge people to know that trains will finish much earlier than normal – even if you can catch a train into the city you won't be able to get a train home. Please don't risk it, check National Rail Enquiries and plan ahead.”
