Industrial Action
During rail strikes and periods of industrial action, the rail industry does all it can to minimise the impact for our passengers and help you plan around it. This page is updated regularly with the latest travel information
Latest News
On Thursday 16 November, strike action was announced by the ASLEF Union for the following train operators on the following days:
Saturday 2 December
Affecting:
East Midlands Railway
LNER
Sunday 3 December
Affecting:
Avanti West Coast
Chiltern Railways
Great Northern
London Northwestern Railway
Thameslink
West Midlands Railway
Tuesday 5 December
Affecting:
c2c
Greater Anglia (including Stansted Express)
Wednesday 6 December
Affecting:
Gatwick Express
South Western Railway (including Island Line)
Southeastern
Southern
Thursday 7 December
Affecting:
CrossCountry
Great Western Railway
Heathrow Express
Friday 8 December
Affecting:
Northern
TransPennine Express
In addition, all the above train operators will have an overtime ban between Friday 1 and Saturday 9 December. Further details are to be confirmed.
On the days where full strike action is taking place this is likely to result in little or no services across large areas of the network operated by the affected train companies. Services are also likely to be disrupted and start later on the day immediately following a full strike day. Passengers are warned to expect significant disruption and advised to plan ahead and check before you travel.
Check before you travel
Please check your journey again nearer the time for the amended strike day timetables.
The National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner is generally up to date for journeys up to and including Sunday 3 December. Any journeys which are still showing incorrectly will be accompanied by a yellow warning triangle on the Journey Planner and will be advised in the above links.
We anticipate Journey Planners to be showing the correct revised level of service for subsequent dates at the following times:
For journeys on 9 December, please check back after 1 December
Please check your entire journey again on the day you travel, in case of any short notice alterations. Please read any warning messages (shown as a yellow triangle on the Journey Planner) as they will help you to understand any impact on your journey.
Please ensure that you check your entire journey to ensure that it can be completed. Where services are running on strike days, they are likely to start later and finish earlier, so please check in particular your first and last trains.
Trains that are running may be busier than usual.
Remember to also check your train times if you are travelling the day immediately after a full strike day as these may also be impacted.
Tickets
If you purchased your ticket before the strikes were announced then you may be able to use your ticket on an alternative day. Details of alternative ticket arrangements can be found in the FAQ section below, under Can I get a refund or travel on a different day?
Ticket and refund information
Previous industrial action dates
If you were affected by earlier industrial action, you can find the relevant dates and train companies below.
Industrial action dates
Passenger assistance during industrial action
If you need assistance when travelling on National Rail services during strike days, staff will continue to provide help so that you can get to where you need to get to safely. Please be aware that normal staffing levels may vary across the network on the days affected by strikes.
We will do everything we can to help passengers on their journeys. If your chosen train is running, then assistance will be provided.
If your journey is affected by the strike action and you have Passenger Assistance booked, your train operator or train operators will contact you to discuss how you might want to change or re-arrange your journey. If you decide not to travel, please contact your train company using the information on the Passenger Assist page.
Turn up and go assistance will still be provided for services running – please check your journey for information before travelling.
You will be able to book assistance on services planned on the strike days where the timetable has been confirmed. Please contact the train company you are travelling with for more information.