REMINDER Nationwide Train Strikes August 18, 19 (tube + bus), 20 ; UPDATE

Good thing that the motorways are so dependable, to take up the overflow. (Insert tongue-in-cheek emoji here.)

Nigel, thank you for continuing to update us. We appreciate it!

Aug 4 UPDATE

Strikes:

Saturday Aug 13 ASLEF drivers

Drivers at Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry voted by more than nine to one to go on strike.
They will strike alongside drivers at Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains.

Thursday Aug 18 RMT and now Network Rail

more than 40,000 workers on strike

quoting the Telegraph:

The RMT rail strikes in August will affect Network Rail, as well as
the following operators: Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains,
Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, Great Western
Railway, Northern Trains, South Eastern, South Western Railway
Transpennine Express, Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and GTR
(including Gatwick Express).

The TSSA is also currently balloting members at West Midlands Trains,
Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, TransPennine Express for
industrial action.

Southeastern, which is wholly owned by the Department for Transport
(DfT) and runs train services between London and Kent, as well as
parts of East Sussex, will be also hit by the TSSA strikes. Stations
potentially hit include London St Pancras, Victoria, Charing Cross and
Cannon Street, as well as Dover Priory, Ramsgate, Ashford
International, Dartford and Sevenoaks.

Now that "Unite the Union" is going out at Network Rail the same days as the RMT and TSSA strikes it will become very hard to run services even on those train companies not on strike - Network Rail control the tracks and the signals.

Friday Aug 19 London Underground (the Tube) and Overground networks on will shut down the underground and Overground (orange lines on the maps).

Saturday Aug 20 same as Thursday Aug 18.

Nigel, does this affect the Scotrail lines?

Last time Network Rail went on strike, last month very few Scotrail trains ran, just in the Central Belt. No rural lines, nothing whatsoever north of the Central Belt (the urban bit in the south including Glasgow and Edinburgh).

That is even though that company now has a settlement - if Network Rail workers walk out nothing can run. They control the switches and signals and maintain the track.

Sorry. Maybe it will be different this time - check their website and see what they say in their contingency plan.

Sorry to be a pest, Nigel. We are due to travel from Edinburgh (Waverley) to Glasgow Central on Aug. 13. Is this route going to be affected? There is a Citylink bus that will get us there but it may be mobbed if the rail lines aren’t running. Scotrail says in a strike event that they will make alternative arrangements for passengers. I guess I need to inquire on Aug 12? Thanks for your help.

Scotrail is not one of the companies involved on the 13th, and the strike has not spread like the ones the next week.

So far, you should be ok... but check.

Thanks so much, Nigel.

Remember the strike tomorrow 13 Aug.

So much will not be running.

Yes, my daughter is in Oxford and will be renting a car Saturday to get to Edinburg! Hope traffic is not terrible.

Nigel, I plan to travel around England in September. Predictions on train service/strikes? Thank you so much.

liz

my crystal ball is cloudy but I would not be at all surprised. This is likely to be a long battle with neither side giving way until government allows a resolution - and right now there is no government, and when there is will this be top of the agenda?

That's not politics, it is a reasoned answer to a traveller trying to organise a trip.

Remember that unions need to give 14 days of a strike and there have been no new ones on the railway announced. In other sectors of the economy there are plenty of strikes - telephone, ports, Lufthansa ground crew, post office, bus drivers just for a few - but no new train strikes announced yet.

Note the next to last line in the original post about the ballots closing on 4 more rail companies on the 25th of August and 19th of September.

Nigel - thank you for these updates. Traveling to Scotland and England and this has been very helpful, if just a bit anxiety-provoking. You have really helped a number of us!

likelihood of these strikes continuing into late September? Am I correct that they give 14 day notice?

don't know... yes, 14 days minimum

I've been sent an excellent webpage in a trade mag I subscribe to which clarifies exactly is expected to happen in the next 4 days - bus (south and SW London primarily), - tube, - train, - Elizabeth Line.

It is well worth a read if you are here or want to understand our situation.

Reminder - this all kicks off tomorrow. If you are travelling in the UK and especially in London this week it is important information...

https://railuk.com/travel/tfl-reminds-customers-to-only-travel-if-essential-ahead-of-tube-rail-and-bus-strikes-on-friday-and-national-rail-strikes-on-thursday-and-saturday/