CrossCountry has confirmed that its services will be seriously disrupted by industrial action by drivers' union ASLEF between Friday 1 and Saturday 9 December.
As part on their ongoing campaign for an inflation-matching pay rise, drivers will refuse to work overtime for the full nine-day period, which is likely to result in short-notice changes or cancellations to train services.
During the same period, ASLEF will take strike action on different train operating companies on different days. On Thursday 7 December, the strike will take place at CrossCountry, and no services will run.
On other dates, strikes on other train operators will impact on CrossCountry services.
On Saturday 2 December, CrossCountry services between Birmingham and Edinburgh via Sheffield and between Birmingham and Cambridge via Leicester are likely to be much busier than usual.
On Sunday 3 December, strike action on Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, London Northwestern and West Midlands Trains will cause CrossCountry services between Manchester and Reading via the West Midlands to be very busy. Planned engineering work will also affect services between Edinburgh and Sheffield. Some stations may implement queueing systems.
Full details of service levels on strike days are available to view here. Delay repay, refund and ticket acceptance information are available at the same link.
Mark Goodall, CrossCountry's Service Delivery Director, said: “We're sorry to customers impacted by this latest round of industrial action. While we're working hard to run as many services as possible over these days, there is likely to be significant disruption for people planning to travel – especially on Sunday 3 December.
“I'd ask customers to check their whole journey before setting off, especially if travelling later in the day. Customers can visit the CrossCountry website or National Rail Enquiries for the latest travel information.”
ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan said, “We are determined to win this dispute and get a significant pay rise for train drivers who have not had an increase since 2019 while the cost of living, in that time, has soared.”
This picture shows a long distance cross country service, three carriages for standard class passengers absolutely disgraceful. Mark Goodall, Cross Country’s Service Delivery Director get your trains fit for customers who dont wish to stand for long distances. Got rid of HST’s way too early.
A new game designed to foul up the travelling public (putting it politely).