Because of industrial action planned by the ASLEF union, there will be no CrossCountry train services on Monday, 5 February, and there may be cancellations or changes at short notice between Monday, 29 January and Tuesday, 6 February.
The advice comes as CrossCountry drivers belonging to the ASLEF union have imposed a ban on overtime during this period.
In addition, drivers at other train operators have planned a strike for Wednesday, 31 January, which will mean that CrossCountry services between Birmingham and Edinburgh via Leeds will be significantly busier than usual.
On Saturday, 3 February drivers at West Midlands Trains, Avanti West Coast, and East Midlands Railway have planned similar strikes, which means that CrossCountry services between Manchester and Reading via the West Midlands are likely to be far busier than normal.
Further disruption is likely on Saturday, 3 and Sunday, 4 February when engineering work is planned to take place between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton, between Exeter St David's and Bristol Temple Meads, and between Leeds, York, and Newcastle.
On that weekend, some journeys may take longer than usual and trains will be replaced by buses on some routes.
Anyone intending to travel on the affected dates should only travel if necessary and allow more time for their journey. On Saturday, 3 February train services are expected to be far busier than normal and at some stations, queueing systems may be in place.
Full details of changes to CrossCountry services on strike days are now available online and can be seen by clicking here.
Details of the delay repay, refund, and ticket acceptance arrangements are also on 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 Saturday 3 February.
“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.”
Where’s Ronald Regan when we need him, remember the air controllers, he sacked all the greedy buggers then re-employed them on his terms.
Not sure that ASLEF and RMT would agree though.
Just a thought.
Richard Harman.