Oldham News | Main News | Only ‘absolutely necessary’ rail travel advised on upcoming strike days

Passengers ought to solely journey if ‘completely crucial’ on coordinated rail strike days happening on 1, 5 and eight October.

Industrial motion by the RMT, TSSA and Aslef throughout all three days will end in a mixture of closed main stations, diminished companies and on sure days, no trains in any respect on most North West rail routes.

The Caledonian Sleeper service between Scotland and London Euston will proceed to run as regular.

The affect of the coordinated strike motion by workers at prepare operators and Community Rail workers on particular person days might be:

Saturday 1 October:

Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Avenue, Birmingham New Avenue and London Euston will all be closed with no trains operating. It’s the first day that the RMT, TSSA and Aslef will strike on the identical day. Nationally, solely round 11% of companies will run nationally. Though not taking part in strike motion, there are service updates to the Caledonian Sleeper timetable.

Wednesday 5 October:

Birmingham New Avenue and London Euston will each be closed with no trains operating. Liverpool Lime Avenue station will solely be open for Liverpool to Chester companies. Very restricted companies might be operating from Manchester Piccadilly. A walkout by prepare drivers (Aslef) throughout 14 operators can even imply disruption for passengers throughout many routes. The operators impacted embody Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Northern Trains and TransPennine Specific.

Saturday 8 October:

The RMT’s second strike day – on Saturday 8 October – will see a diminished rail service in operation. Final trains will depart stations between 3pm and 5pm with ultimate arrivals by 6.30pm.

As has occurred on earlier ‘strike days’ in June, July and August, hundreds of specially-trained and absolutely certified back-up workers will step in throughout the walkouts to maintain important companies operating for individuals who want them at any time when potential.

With trains beginning later and ending a lot sooner than ordinary, passengers are requested to solely journey by rail if completely crucial. Those that should journey ought to anticipate disruption, plan forward and test when their final prepare will depart

Tim Shoveller, Community Rail’s North West and Central area managing director, mentioned: “Regardless of our greatest efforts to compromise and discover a breakthrough in talks, rail unions stay intent on persevering with and coordinating their strike motion. This serves solely to make sure our workers forgo much more of their pay unnecessarily, in addition to inflicting much more disruption for our passengers and additional damaging the railway’s restoration from the pandemic.

“Passengers who need to journey this Saturday, and certainly subsequent Wednesday and subsequent Saturday, are requested solely to take action if completely crucial. Those that should journey ought to anticipate disruption and ensure they test when their final prepare will depart.”

Passengers are additionally suggested that there’s prone to be some disruption within the early morning of the day after every strike – Sunday 2 October, Thursday 6 October and Sunday 9 October – as employees return to duties.

Passengers are inspired to plan their journeys and test earlier than they journey at www.nationalrail.co.uk