It’s that time again when a strike impacts rail travel in the United Kingdom.
Let us see who is striking, and why you’ll probably need to catch a coach to Liverpool as it’s Eurovision Weekend.
When are the strikes running and which unions are involved?
- Friday 12 May (ASLEF Union)
- Saturday 13 May (RMT Union)
- Wednesday 31 May (ASLEF Union)
- Saturday 3 June (ASLEF Union)
Which Operators are Impacted?
- Avanti West Coast
- c2c (on 13 May only)
- Chiltern Railways
- CrossCountry
- East Midlands Railway
- Gatwick Express
- Great Northern
- Great Western Railway
- Greater Anglia
- Heathrow Express
- Island Line
- LNER
- London Northwestern Railway
- Northern
- South Western Railway
- Southeastern
- Southern
- Stansted Express
- Thameslink
- TransPennine Express
- West Midlands Railway
Additionally, an overtime ban for ASLEF members will be implemented from Monday 15 to Saturday 20 May inclusive and on Saturday 13 May and Thursday 1 June.
Is travel to and from London airports impacted?
Heavily.
- For Heathrow, use the Elizabeth Line or the Piccadilly Line (underground).
- For Gatwick, you will need to find a coach, as no trains are operating by any of the Govia Thameslink Railway Group (Southern/Thameslink/Gatwick Express)
- For London City, the DLR Is operating as normal
- For Luton Airport, you’ll need to find a coach, as no services are booked to operate
- For Stansted Airport, there is limited service
Check with the operators before travel.
What about Liverpool? There’s a song contest going on…
On Saturday, there are some services to and from Liverpool to support the Eurovision Song Contest. Importantly, Local Services operated by Merseyrail are unaffected by strike action, with late-night trains operating in the Liverpool City Region.
- Avanti West Coast services from/to London are very limited.
- Regional services by Transpennine Express are very limited, with limited service to Manchester, Preston, Sheffield and Scarborough.
- Northern will run a restricted service between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Airport
Where can I get more information?
The individual train operators and their plans are linked above. In addition, National Rail Enquiries has a high-level view of what’s going on at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/323978.aspx.
If your travel plans involve taking the trains today or this weekend, plan ahead – it could be a very short journey otherwise.
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