Govia Thameslink Railway is advising its customers that industrial action taking place from the 3rd to the 8th of July will see disruption to travel and is strongly advising passengers to check their travel plans ahead and to leave more time than usual for making a journey.
Union ASLEF is taking industrial action across a good number of train companies, including Govia Thameslink Railway and will involve an overtime ban.
Over the period of planned actions, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink will operate with an altered timetable to support customers to plan their journey, however, there will be fewer services operating than usual. By planning an altered timetable, the rail operator will be able to reduce the number of short-notice on-the-day changes.
Due to the reduction in services, it is anticipated that trains will be much busier than usual, especially at peak travel times. Queuing for trains is likely and some passengers may not be able to get on the first service, due to this, passengers are urged to add extra time to their travel plans.
Customers travelling through the period of industrial action can make use of planners such as National Rail, which has now been updated with train timetables that will operate from Monday the 3rd to Saturday the 8th of July.
Customers should note that Gatwick Express will not be in operation over any of the affected days and that Thameslink and Southern trains will be providing services which support the airport.
Those heading to the Wireless Festival at Finsbury Park will find that services that are in operation on Saturday the 8th will be extremely busy and queuing will be in action. Attendees of the festival are strongly advised to leave extra time if travelling by rail and are advised to use alternative travel options.
Network Operations Director at Govia Thameslink Railway, Chris Fowler, said:
“We're really sorry for the disruption this industrial action by ASLEF will cause our customers. Regrettably, we'll be running an amended timetable with fewer trains from Monday to Saturday, 3-8 July.”
“By reducing service levels, we'll have fewer short-notice, on-the-day alterations, which provides greater certainty for customers planning their journeys.”
“Customers heading to the Wireless Festival at Finsbury Park will face long waits and extremely busy trains on a very limited service, so they should find other ways to travel if possible. Overall, I strongly advise people to plan ahead, allow extra time and check trains before setting out for the station.”
We are all getting sick and tired of this continuing politically-motivated industrial action.
Even if the unions were offered everything they have been asking for, they would still continue taking industrial action just for the sake of it. The RMT rejected an offer from the train companies that was the same as the offer they accepted from Network Rail, so this shows that the antics of both the unions are being dictated by politicians on the far left. Both sides should be locked in a room and the key should be hidden until they get this sorted out so as to allow us all to get on with our lives without all this disruption.