East Midlands passengers urged to plan ahead and only travel by train if necessary on Thursday and Saturday

Tuesday 16 Aug 2022

East Midlands passengers urged to plan ahead and only travel by train if necessary on Thursday and Saturday

Region & Route:: Eastern; | Eastern: East Midlands

Rail passengers travelling in the East Midlands are urged to plan ahead this Thursday (18 Aug) and Saturday (20 Aug) as a very limited timetable will be available 
Amid national industrial action, passenger trains will only run between 7:30am and 6:30pm and some routes will be closed completely
Passengers should check before they travel, expect disruption and only travel if necessary

Rail passengers in the East Midlands should plan ahead and only travel by train if it’s absolutely necessary this Thursday (18 Aug) and Saturday (20 Aug). With rail unions calling national industrial action, train services will be limited and only run between 7.30am and 6.30pm. Passengers are also advised to travel later in the day on Friday (19 Aug) and Sunday (21 Aug) as service start up is likely to be affected by the industrial action on the previous day.

Thousands of specially-trained and fully qualified contingency staff will step in during the walkout - which has been called by the RMT, TSSA and Unite unions - to keep vital services running for those who need them. Even so, a very limited service will run and passengers are asked to only travel by train if they must.

Trains will start later and finish much earlier than usual and the last long distance services will leave in the early afternoon. In a change to previous days of industrial action, East Midlands Railway services between London and Corby and Nottingham and Sheffield will not run on either day. On Saturday 20 Aug, there will also be no services between Nottingham and Leicester and CrossCountry services are affected by engineering work at Water Orton.

Gary Walsh, Route Director for Network Rail’s East Midlands Route said: “I’m sorry that the ongoing industrial action means that East Midlands passengers will see a significant reduction in services this Thursday and Saturday.

“We’re doing all we can to run services safely but the impact will be significant. I advise those who absolutely need to travel by train to plan ahead, check their journey and expect severe disruption.” 

Further information for passengers is available on the National Rail website. 

ENDS 

Notes to Editors

CrossCountry services will not run after 8pm on Friday 19 August.
All train operators are affected by the 18/20 August strikes as Network Rail’s signallers control train movements across the entire country. 
Although the network will only be open from 7.30am to 6.30pm on both dates, the electric supply to tracks and overhead lines will stay on throughout, as will patrolling by security staff, police and from the air. 
Passengers with advance, off-peak or anytime tickets affected by the strike on 18 and 20 August can use their ticket either on the day before the date on the ticket, or up to and including Tuesday 23 August. Passengers can also change their tickets to travel on an alternate date or get a refund if their train is cancelled or rescheduled.  
Passengers with a season ticket that is monthly or longer or who have an activated days’ worth of travel on a flexi season ticket who choose not to travel on 18 or 20 August, can claim compensation for these days through the delay repay scheme.

If passengers need to travel on the 18 or 20 and already have a ticket, please check with the train company you booked to travel with in advance of your journey for advice on what to do.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Jake Nabi
Media Relations Manager
Network Rail
07858375508
jake.nabi@networkrail.co.uk

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