Two train operating companies in East Anglia have warned customers to check before they travel.
Planned strikes and engineering work threaten disruption to services provided by Greater Anglia railway companies. Other companies operating both in the region and nationally are likely to be affected by planned industrial action scheduled for Saturday 26 August as well as the following Friday and Saturday. The RMT has threatened to take action on successive Saturdays while ASLEF members have been called out on strike on Friday 1 September and plan to take action short of a strike the following day. In addition, on Saturday 26 August and Sunday 27 August there are scheduled engineering works affecting Great Eastern Main Line services. A service of rail replacement buses will run between Witham and Ingatestone.
Greater Anglia services are expected to run a normal or near normal services on most of the network between 0700 and 2300 on Saturday 26 August. Three routes will see services close after 1900, though there are some routes which will see a reduced service with a few lines offering no service. Football fans planning to watch the game between Ipswich Town and Leeds United are warned that the final services on many lines will depart considerably earlier than usual, with the last service to Cambridge departing Ipswich at 1921 and the final Peterborough service at 1758. No alternative transport will be provided after those services have departed.
There will be no service on the following lines:
- Ipswich to Felixstowe
- Colchester to Walton-on-the-Naze via Colchester Town
- Bishop's Stortford to Stratford
- Hertford East to London Liverpool Street
- Meridian Water to Stratford.
The following services will run until 1900 only:
- London Liverpool Street to Cambridge
- Ipswich to Cambridge
- Norwich to Stansted Airport.
The following services, running until 1900, will run restricted frequencies:
Hourly
- Witham to Braintree, Clacton-on-Sea, Colchester Town, Ipswich and Norwich
- Norwich to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Sheringham
- Marks Tey to Sudbury.
Two-hourly:
- Ipswich to Lowestoft and Peterborough.
Out of London Liverpool Street, services will run every 20 minutes to Southend Victoria and half hourly to Stansted Airport, calling at Cheshunt aft 1900. Services will run from Wickford to Southminster every 40 minutes.
On Friday 1 September, although service plans have yet to be finalised, and a skeleton service will run for a reduced number of hours, most likely serving London to Norwich, Colchester, Southend and Stansted Airport passengers.
Service patterns for Saturday 2 September will be broadly similar to those for the previous Saturday, though further details will be available three days before the planned strikes. Engineering works are scheduled which will affect mainline services between Norwich and Ipswich and regional services between Ipswich, Peterborough and Cambridge.
Services changes will be publicised by National Rail Enquiries or www.greateranglia.co.uk with most journey plans available three days before the dates of the proposed disruption.
Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia's managing director, said: “With industrial action taking place, on 26 August and 2 September there will be some alterations and cancellations across our network, plus some routes where no trains will run at all, while on 1 September it is expected that trains only will operate on four routes, with no services at all on the rest of the network.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by these service alterations and advise customers to plan ahead and check before they travel.”
