New strikes on English trains

Thank you Nigel!

I still struggle to understand what exactly Merseyrail is. Is it a Metro system? An actual train company? A subsidiary of something else? Regardless it's been a bad time for rail transport in Liverpool in recent weeks.

Merseyrail is the local commuter train company for the area around Liverpool and nearby cities and down, as far as Chester.

It is proper heavy rail, third rail, and is a Train Operating Company.

Nigel, is the best place to look for this kind of information the National Rail website, or is there a better place? I've been checking it for scheduled engineering work, but wasn't sure if labor disruptions show up there as well.

Any operator once they have had notice will update their website and generally say that the strike is unnecessary and that they will run nearly a normal service.

Sometimes the reality is different, but that can be a sign that not all is well.

I try to update here as I here of progress or the lack of it, and I try to put an unbiased reason for the readers. I'm generally fairly close to the news.

Sometimes one slips under the radar or I'm not near a computer for longish stretches.

Network Rail will update nearer the time and on the day.

Nigel - question - if you prepurchase tickets for a certain day and time, but they decide to go on strike, how hard is it to get back your money? Do they tend to stop all trains, or just cut some out?

I guess they seem to give a pretty good notice - is 2-3 weeks notice the norm? Want to prepurchase tix for a trip from London to Brighton for late April to get the savings, but don't want to be stuck with worthless tickets...only one day we can use them since our time in London is very short...

Nicole P

sorry I missed your followup.

The short answer is, I'm afraid, it depends.

Some strikes shut down the lot. Usually if it signallers or drivers because getting scabs for them is difficult. The train companies can usually send a bunch of managers or others to attempt to do what Conductors/Senior Conductors/Train Managers/Guards do so they tend to keep more of a service going. What happened recently on the first installment of the strike also affected by the date on this thread is that two of the companies ran a severely altered service in the morning rush, packed up for lunch, and ran a few in the afternoon leaving evening commuters stranded. The other company ran most of its services on a special timetable.

There are not wildcat strikes any more usually, they are announced well in advance. Sometimes between the announcement and the strike date they are settled or postponed.

Keep an eye out and we should give you the information you need.