Exciting Events & Impacted Services: Must-Know September to October Dates

Which rail companies are affected?

The train companies affected are:

• Avanti West Coast
• C2C
• Caledonian Sleeper
• Chiltern Railways
• CrossCountry
• East Midlands Railway
• Gatwick Express
• Greater Anglia
• GWR
• GTR Great Northern Thameslink
• Heathrow Express
• Island Line
• LNER
• Northern Trains
• Southeastern
• Southern
• Gatwick Express
• South Western Railway main line
• Stanstead Express
• SWR depot drivers
• TransPennine Express
• West Midlands Trains.

Advice for travelling during train strikes

National Rail warns passengers to expect significant disruption on strike days. Services are also likely to be disrupted and start later on the day immediately after.

National Rail has recommended that passengers:

• Use its Journey Planner. Passengers should check close to the time of each strike date.
• Use its Live Trains page for the most up-to-date information about arrivals and departures
• Plan ahead and check before you travel. This includes checking your entire journey, especially if you’re travelling on the first and last trains of strike days.

Train station ticket office closures

Nearly all railway station ticket offices are being shut and staff moved on to station platform and concourse duties, according to the Rail Delivery Group (RDG). Ticket office facilities will remain open only at the busiest stations.

Posters are being displayed in stations informing passengers about potential closures. The Government will make the final decision on which offices will be axed following a consultation. It is not known how quickly the first offices will shut, but the closure programme is expected to last for three years.

Why are Aslef striking?

Aslef members are taking industrial action as they push for a pay rise.

The union has criticized the government for failing to meet its negotiating team – general secretary Mick Whelan, assistant general secretary Simon Weller, and executive committee president Dave Calfe.

They last met representatives of the employers, the Rail Delivery Group, under the agreed post-pandemic framework of the Rail Industry Recovery Group, in April.

Mr. Whelan added: “Do you remember Where’s Wally? Well, what we want to know is Where’s Harper?

“We last saw the Secretary of State for Transport in December.

“We last saw Huw Merriman, the Rail Minister, in January.

“And we last saw the train companies in April.

“Since then, nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not a letter, not an email, not a text message, not a phone call, not a WhatsApp. Not a word!”