Train operator Northern has announced that its services will be severely affected next Thursday, 9 May when the rail union ASLEF stages another day of industrial action.
The result of the union industrial action is that Northern will be unable to operate any train services across its entire network.
The ASLEF union largely represents train drivers, and to cause maximum disruption, it is holding multiple strikes with different train operators across the country but is staging them on different days.
Strikes are being held at different operators on various days from Monday, 6 until Saturday, 11 May. Although Northern services will only be directly affected on Thursday, 9 May, customers travelling on Northern trains who also need to use other train operators' services should check before they travel if they intend to travel any time between Monday, 6 and Saturday, 11 May.
We can only apologise, once again, for the disruption this action by ASLEF will cause.
Tricia Williams, chief operating officer for Northern
Throughout all of next week, from Monday, 6 to Saturday, 11 May, all services are likely to be busier than normal as people use alternative routes to avoid strikes with other operators.
With Northern being the country's second largest train operator running 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations throughout the North of England, the industrial action will severely affect the company's ability to run its train services.
More details about the strikes and their effects can be found at www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/strikes.
Unfortunately, the action by ASLEF on Thursday 9 May will see our network grind to a halt.
On the days when strikes are taking place with other train operators, we will do everything we can to keep our services moving and absorb those extra passengers trying to travel across the region.
We can only apologise, once again, for the disruption this action by ASLEF will cause to people in the North of England.
Tricia Williams, chief operating officer for Northern
“We can only apologise for the disruption that Aslef will cause to the people of the North of England”. What a joke of a quote. I used Northern trains twice a day, Monday to Friday for years and Northern never apologised to me for their terrible service. Late on a daily basis, if the train was running at all (cancellations because other areas were more important to keep the trains running on than Leeds to Sheffield/Doncaster), regular shortage of carriages (3 or 4 carriages worth pf people crammed into 2 carriages) and the customer paid through the nose for this service. If Northern treats its workers like its customers I hope the unions get them for every penny they can.