May 2024 - More train strikes May 7, 8, 9

Thanks, Nigel, for keeping us up-to-date on the trains. We have tickets on the 7th to Liverpool with Avanti so will definitely be keeping an eye on this.

On 8 May Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, East Midlands Railway and West Midlands Railway (including London North Western) will all run no trains at all.

For Luton Airport use Thameslink trains on 8 May (and on 7 May use East Midlands- when Thameslink are on strike)

Heathrow Express will only run a half hourly service between 0725 and 1900, but the Elizabeth Line will run as normal.

Great Western Railway will run no main line trains at all, including to Bath.
Only these routes will run from 0700 to 1900 unless otherwise noted-
Reading and Oxford
Reading and Basingstoke
Reading and Redhill (peak time only)
Reading and Newbury
Westbury and Swindon (peak time only)
Cardiff and Bristol
Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple
Exeter St Davids and Exmouth (calling at Exeter Central, Digby and Topsham only)
Penzance/St Erth and St Ives (09:30 to 12:30 and 15:30 to 19:00)

Also the Night Riviera Sleeper will not run from 6 to 11 May.

On 9 May Northern and Transpennine Express will run NO services. LNER will only run from London to Edinburgh and Leeds- timetable to be published.

EDIT (1 May)- The LNER timetable is now finalised and in journey planners- with tickets for the day back on sale

I am planning to go from London to Cardiff sometime that week. Will these strikes impact that?

Thanks for always posting these in such detail, Nigel. It is a real service to so many travelers !

Thanks for posting this detailed information!
Very helpful for those of us traveling in May.

goanywhere, your answers are above. The railway company you would be on is Great Western Railway. That will be the strike on the middle day of the week; probably there will be knock on effects the day before and the day after.

Oh my, these are before my arrival in England, but I will be keeping an eye on this thread, so thank you!

Thank you Nigel.

We have tickets Bath to York on May 7th. I can't tell what line they are on. I guess I need to look them all up!

@Laura- On May 7 a Bath to York journey should not be affected (with the caveat below)- but if travelling via London you will be travelling with Great Western to London Paddington, then LNER from London Kings Cross; if via Birmingham then with Great Western to Bristol, then Cross Country to York.

The Caveat is that there is an overtime ban in force on all days that week. Officially all operators expect to run a full service each day except their strike day. In practice there may well be short notice cancellations- those should be posted by 10pm the previous evening 6 May on the relevant Company website- but it may be an on the day fluid situation. So you will get to York BUT travel with patience and a flexible schedule as the exact trains you are on may vary.
If it was posted the previous evening you DO NOT get delay repay compensation (officially, I have fought hard locally in Northern England with success to reverse that stance).
If you get delayed due to on the day then you get 25% compensation if 15 to 30 minutes late, 50% if 30 to 60 late, and 100% if over 1 hour late.

We also do not have Cross Country services confirmed yet for that week- which is why I haven't listed them above.

I know of at least three UK trains that have never gone on strike. Or at least I don't think they have. Too bad they don't go where I need to go:

Thomas the Tank

The Greendale Rocket

The Pencaster Flyer

It's one of those mornings.

Hahahahahahahaha Frank !!! Thanks for that. My metro has been stuck a few minutes, so i appreciate the chuckle I had in reading your non-striking trains response

Nigel, in an amazing bit of bad serendipity, I'm landing at Gatwick on the morning of May 7th. I'm staying in South London, near the Borough station. Am I correct in thinking that with Southern, Thameslink, & Gatwick Express out of service that I don't have any public transit options for getting to where I'm staying?

There will be a special half hourly non stop service running from Gatwick to London Victoria on 7 May, operated by Southern, between 0600 and almost midnight.

This is in lieu of Gatwick Express, but is at normal Southern fares.

This is expected to be the only service operated by Southern that day.

Technically Southern have not yet confirmed that plan (hence why not mentioned above), but it is what has happened on every other strike day.

In the very unlikely event that did not happen you would use the National Express bus to Victoria- which runs via Heathrow.

Thank you! I've booked a car as a back-up but if that runs, it will be much faster.

7 May- Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern- On Strike Day service levels are now confirmed. These are the only services operating.

Southern shuttle service calling at Gatwick Airport and London Victoria only (operating between approximately 05:00 and 23:00)
Thameslink shuttle service calling at St Pancras, Luton Airport Parkway and Luton only (operating between approximately 07:00 and 19:00)
Thameslink shuttle service calling at London Kings Cross and Cambridge only (operating between approximately 07:00 and 19:00)
Please check journey planners, as the departure times and frequencies of these shuttle services will vary throughout the day.

These services are expected to be extremely busy. Queueing systems will be in place, and you may not be able to board your chosen service. If you are planning to travel on one of the last trains of the day, please be aware that, depending on the size of the queue, you may not be able to board a service at all, and no alternative transport options will be provided after the last train departs. Please plan ahead and leave plenty of time to reach your destination.

On 8-10 May Gatwick Express will be running as Southern services with extra stops at Clapham Junction and East Croydon.

Other services across the 3 lines will be running on those three days to significantly reduced levels- check journey planners carefully

On 7 May C2C will run no service. South Eastern will only run suburban trains to Orpington and Dartford and a High Speed shuttle service only as far as Ashford International calling at Straford International and Ebbsfleet International only.

thanks to Stuart for the up to date detail

Thanks for the info. I had not yet researched the train line we would take to Cardiff so much appreciation for the specifics

@Leslie- For Liverpool to Euston on 7 May Avanti have now confirmed that they will be running a normal service on that day- although I think I wouldn't want to leave it until the evening just in case the unions decide to informally start action early- certainly on Northern Rail on my line that happens quite often. I would want to be at my final destination by about 7pm on a prudent just in case basis.

Thank you @isn31c, we have tickets on a morning train.

Manchester Airport will have no rail service on 9 May except an hourly Transport for Wales service from North Wales (with very limited capacity). Use the trams from Central Manchester, or the buses from the City Centre- numbers 43 and 103.

These routes to the airport existed before the airport rail station opened, and before the trams were extended to the airport.

Both routes run 24 hours a day, and Route 43 also runs on Christmas Day.

Greater Anglia will only run the following services on their strike day- 7 May-
Norwich/Colchester and London Liverpool Street
Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street
Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street
Cambridge and London Liverpool Street

All to a reduced timetable, starting late and finishing early

Cross Country Trains will run no services at all on 8 May

South Western Railway will only run the following routes between 0700 and 1900 on 7 May-
Basingstoke and Salisbury
London Waterloo and Basingstoke
London Waterloo and Feltham via Twickenham
London Waterloo and Guildford via Woking
London Waterloo and Woking

Hopefully all affected train companies are now listed

a gentle bump as the strikes are starting tomorrow

New here..
any word on May 16-18, 2024, strikes?

No strikes on 16 to 18 May or any further currently scheduled beyond the end of this week. The earliest any further strikes could be, as of today, is 21 May.

it will be interesting to see if they plump for the Late May Bank Holiday