For those who are planning to travel this weekend by train, you might want to think again, as ASLEF is calling out its union members on strike for the 26th of November.
It’s going to be another quiet day at Birmingham New Street – the 8th busiest station in the UK allegedly – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
The strike is affecting twelve operators (and their subsidiary companies). It will impact travel primarily on the 26th of November, but there is expected to affect travel both on the 25th and 27th of November.
Which train companies are impacted by the strike?
For completeness, here are the confirmed plans of each train operating company:
- Avanti West Coast – No Services are planned to operate
- c2c– Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Caledonian Sleeper – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Chiltern Railways – No Services are planned to operate
- CrossCountry – No Services are planned to operate
- East Midlands Railway – No Services are planned to operate
- Elizabeth line – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Gatwick Express – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Grand Central – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Great Northern – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Great Western Railway – A very limited service will operate, during limited times and routes, including London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads, Reading and Oxford and Reading and Basingstoke.
- Greater Anglia / Stansted Express – A very limited service will operate, with one train per hour on routes between London Liverpool Street and Colchester, Norwich and Southend Victoria and the Stansted Express service.
- Heathrow Express – No Services are planned to operate
- Hull Trains – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike, but there are engineering works
- LNER – A very limited service will operate. Between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh with one train approximately every two hours, with no services beyond Edinburgh. There will only be one train each way between London King’s Cross and Leeds.
- London Northwestern Railway – No Services are planned to operate
- London Overground– Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Lumo – – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike, but has limited operations during the day
- Merseyrail– Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Northern – No Services are planned to operate
- ScotRail – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Southeastern – No Services are planned to operate
- Southern – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- South Western Railway / Island Line – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- Thameslink – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike
- TransPennine Express – A significantly reduced timetable is planned
- Transport for Wales – Unaffected by the ASLEF strike, however, trains are expected to be busy, with bus transport laid on for the Rugby.
- West Midlands Railway – No Services are planned to operate
How is access to the London Airports affected?
If you’re planning to head off to the airport, you might want to allow extra time for your trip.
Heathrow
- The Heathrow Express will not operate.
- Elizabeth Line and Piccadilly Lines will operate
Gatwick
- Unaffected on London Stations – Gatwick route. Other routes may be impacted.
Luton Airport
- East Midlands Railway will not be operating any services
- Thameslink will be operating services, however, with no EMR services, these are expected to be busy.
Stansted Airport
- Greater Anglia/Stansted Express will run one service an hour between Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport. No other services will operate
- CrossCountry services will not operate.
Other rail-connected airports (such as Birmingham Airport, and Manchester Airport) may require alternative means to complete your journey.
Where can I get more information?
Your first port of call should be National Rail Enquires which has a dedicated landing page for the strike action at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/310400.aspx.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond. Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, featuring in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.
Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates, as well as Mastodon too! You can follow me on Instagram too!
Also, remember that we are part of the BoardingArea community, bringing you the latest frequent flyer news from around the world.
