Wednesday 28 Sep 2022
Severely reduced service along East Coast Main Line during rail strikes
- Region & Route:
- Eastern
- Passengers should only travel if necessary on Saturday 1, Wednesday 5 and Saturday 8 October during national strike action
- A special, severely reduced timetable will operate along the East Coast Main Line between 7:30am and 6:30pm
- Passengers should plan ahead between Saturday 1 and Sunday 9 October, know their last train times and expect disruption
Rail passengers should plan ahead and only travel by train if necessary on Saturday 1, Wednesday 5 and Saturday 8 October.
Amid national strike action, a severely limited special timetable will run along the East Coast Main Line – which connects London King’s Cross, Peterborough, York, Doncaster and Edinburgh – between 7:30am and 6:30pm.
On Saturday 1 October, trains will only run as far as York. Passengers planning to travel to places like Darlington, Newcastle, Berwick or Edinburgh are advised not to travel by train.
Major engineering work in Newcastle will continue as planned between Saturday 1 and Monday 10 October (inclusive) to bring better, more reliable journeys for passengers. This essential work will be going ahead despite the strikes to deliver the benefits as soon as possible and minimise future disruption. It means that on Saturday 8 October, no trains will run north of Newcastle.
There will also be changes to services throughout the week as workers return to their duties, so passengers should continue to check before they travel via National Rail or their train operator’s website.
Sarah Reid, East Coast Route Director for Network Rail, said: “It’s disappointing to see that our passengers are faced with a severely limited train service as unions embark on another round of strike action.
“Despite this, I’m pleased that we’re still pushing ahead with our major work in Newcastle to deliver smoother, more reliable journeys for passengers. Doing this work now will help us to keep the railway open for longer in the future and minimise disruption.
“Our advice to passengers who really need to take the train, especially those travelling north of York, is to plan ahead, check your journey and expect significant disruption throughout the week.”
For the latest updates, please visit networkrail.co.uk/industrial-action.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For further information on the upgrade work in Newcastle and how this impacts journeys, please visit Newcastle track upgrade - Network Rail.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Louise Leighton
Media Relations Manager
Network Rail
07858 375508
louise.leighton2@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk