New TRAIN strikes December

Northern have now confirmed (on 28 November) that no services will operate anywhere on their network on 8 December, also on 2 December (due to LNER and EMR strikes Northern services on the Sheffield to Nottingham, Sheffield to Lincoln and Sheffield to Manchester routes are expected to be very busy, as will the Doncaster to Leeds route on 7 December due to the Cross Country strikes
Avanti will provide no service on their strike day- 3 December.
Trans Pennine have now (28 November) confirmed that no services will run anywhere on their network (except overnight trains on the York to Manchester Airport route which will run until about 4am
LNER will provide a basic service on their main London to Edinburgh and Leeds lines only on 2 December, no service on the branches or North of Edinburgh- confirmed timetable -https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/saturday-2-december-2023---confirmed-strike-day-timetable.pdf

On Sunday 3 December there are no trains into Kings Cross due to scheduled engineering work. With Avanti on strike LNER are running buses from Cockfosters (at the end of the Piccadilly line) to St Neots-confirmed timetable (which also shows the times of the Underground connections from King's Cross to Cockfosters-https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/sunday-3-december-2023---confirmed-post-strike-day-timetable.pdf

West Midlands Trains and London North Western Railway EDIT 20 November- they have now confirmed that no service will be provided on any route

Great Western have now published their strike day timetable- see post below.
also Night Riviera Sleeper service cancelled 1 to 9 December
c2c have confirmed that they will run NO service on any route
Greater Anglia have confirmed that they will only run trains on these routes-
Reduced service between Norwich and London Liverpool Street; Cambridge and London Liverpool Street, Colchester and London Liverpool Street; and between Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street.
Chiltern Railway have confirmed that no trains will run at all on their strike day- Sunday 3 December (including on the route from Marylebone to Oxford- and services will be heavily modified during the week of the overtime ban- full details on their website.
East Midlands Railway have confirmed that no service at all will run on their network on their strike day- 2 December
South Eastern Trains have confirmed that no trains will run anywhere on their network on their strike day- 6 December
Great Northern/Thameslink have confirmed that no trains will run at all on their strike day- 3 December, no Gatwick Express and a heavily amended Southern service
Cross Country Trains- No services will run anywhere on their network on their strike day-7 December. Timetables (and thus tickets) for Friday 1, Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 December are expected to be available by Friday 24 November.
Timetables and tickets for Monday 4, Tuesday 5, Wednesday 6 and Friday 8 December are expected to be available by Tuesday 28 November.
South West Trains- see post below for their limited strike day service

Southern and Gatwick Express- the only service to run on their strike day-6 December- a limited non stop Southern service will run from Gatwick to Victoria only, no other southern services, also a much amended Thameslink service will run
Gatwick Express is cancelled from 1 to 9 December

Thank you!

Thanks Nigel.
I’ll cross all my fingers that LNER : KGX- EDI is not affected on Dec 11th………I don’t really want to spend huge amounts of money for another night (or more) in London.😩

The 11th is not in this batch. The Union must give 14 days notice of a strike so for the 11th to be a strike day they must declare before the 27th of November.

Thank you! Please forgive my ignorance: if December 4th isn’t on your list then there is no need to be concerned? I have tickets on LNER to Newcastle on this day. Similar question: if LNER is not listed for 07/12, all clear for travel unhindered by strikes?

Andrea,

Fundamentally yes and yes, you are OK on those dates, but do also be aware of the underlying overtime ban.
The effects of that should be fairly minor on LNER, but any disruption will be unpredictable, on the day disruption where individual trains are cancelled at short notice. You will get there, but maybe a bit later than expected.

Thank you for sharing Nigel. This will be helpful for me for my trip next month.

I think you will find that LUMO drivers do not take part in the strike action. LUMO operate on the same line as LNER between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh but do not stop at York. https://www.lumo.co.uk

Grand Central will be offering a full timetable on strike days. This company runs trains from London King’s Cross to Yorkshire.
See >https://www.grandcentralrail.com/travelling-with-gc/timetables

Transport for Wales trains come under the Welsh Government - who have agreed to pay the mainline train drivers £63,000 per year for a 4 day 35 hour week - hence, they will not be on strike. If you use GWR from London Paddington during strike days and get to Cardiff, you will be able to transfer to TfW to proceed further into Wales or head north from Newport to Chester and north Wales as well as Manchester. https://tfw.wales

We land in Heathrow 7 Dec and have tickets to Bath (Elisabeth line to Hayes & Harlington, then Reading, then GWR to Bath Spa) does this mean we won't make it to Bath Spa? Should we prepare for an alternative? I used the LNER app to book the tickets, will I be notified/compensated for GWR strike, or am I on my own for that?

@Sanomh - no, unless you arrive late in the day, the Elizabeth Line is unaffected. On past experience GWR to Bath will be running hourly until around 7pm. That of course needs to be verified when times are published in around two weeks time, but that is the past pattern.

Thanks very much, I'll check the GWR site for updates. We have early morning arrival and flex tickets departing Heathrow at 9:55 am so maybe we'll be ok?

Say your pre booked train was cancelled due to strike/industrial action, what is LNER’s process to rebook, refund, etc?
I’m hoping no trains that any of us here have booked will be affected, but it’s useful to know what to quickly do just in case.
Thanks to our English friends.🙂

You would book a new seat on a train that was running either through the website or on the app- https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/make-a-reservation/

If no train suited you then apply for a refund here- https://lner-refunds.fastrailticketing.com/

Note that refunds are always handled by the company you bought the ticket from. So, for instance, if you needed a refund on a GWR ticket from London to Bath, but that ticket had been purchased from LNER (as this forum normally recommends) you would apply to LNER for the refund- not GWR.

Thank you so much.

GWR hasn't published the timetable yet, but this is the information on the planned scope:

Thursday 7 December – Strike day
An extremely limited service will operate. There will be a reduced operating window; services will start at 07:00 and must be completed by around 19:00.

A very limited service will run only on the following routes between:

London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads
London and Oxford
Reading and Basingstoke
Reading and Redhill (peak time only)
Reading and Newbury (peak time only)
Westbury and Swindon (peak time only)
Cardiff and Bristol Temple Meads
Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple (peak time only)
Exeter St Davids and Exmouth (calling at Exeter Central, Digby and Topsham only)
Plymouth and Gunnislake
Penzance and St Ives

In particular anyone travelling to Bath on Saturday 2 and 9 December (where the Christmas Market is on from 23 November to 10 December) please note that trains will be extremely busy and there will be queues to board trains safely.

So our train on GWR on 7 December is from Reading to Bath Spa, is that the same line as the Bathingstoke run?

It is part of the London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads route.

No, Bath is on the London to Bristol line. Reading to Basingstoke is a branch line, connecting to the South Western Railway. Not a route many tourists would normally use.
An hourly service can be expected to run from Reading to Bath, timetable release is expected this Thursday.

IMPORTANT NOTE- On 7 December, the GWR strike day, there will be NO Heathrow Express before 7am or after 7pm, the Elizabeth Line will continue to run to the end of normal service from Heathrow.
EDIT- Before 7am cancellations added

WMT - West Midlands Trains, LNWR - London Northwestern Railway and EMR - East Midland Railway

have all re-confirmed overnight that on their strike days there will no trains at all on their networks and no replacement bus services.

This Saturday for EMR and Sunday for WMT and LNWR.

Thanks to you both for keeping us updated.

I hope the train drivers get all the strikes out of their system in December so that they are on the tracks in March and April!

To those in the UK, I am afraid I need some assistance.

I am currently booked on a December 8 train from London to York.

Am I correct in saying that route will be affected?

What are the other options for getting to York from London?

What are the chances that before December 8 the strikes will end, whether because of a new agreement or because of sufficient progress in the labor negotiations?

Last question first- there is zero prospect of the strikes being called off. There are no ongoing negotiations and there haven't been since the spring. A final offer has been made. It has been rejected. End of story.

London to York on 8 December is fine. The national overtime ban will still be in place, so individual trains may be affected on the day (impossible to predict which) thus you may end up on a slightly later train than scheduled, but you will get there. There will be a list of affected trains on the LNER journey check page by 10pm the previous night, but others could happen on the day.

If on a very late night train LNER have a legal obligation to get you there, by whatever means necessary. In extremis if you were booked on the last train of the night and it was cancelled they would have to pay for a taxi from London to York.

If you are delayed more than 15 minutes you get 25% of a single ticket back, 30 minutes 50% and an hour or more 100%, through the delay repay scheme. Unlike on an airline, where they argue the legal toss over the cause, you will get it- cause is irrelevant.

Both TPT (Trans Pennine) and Northern run regional services into York- not the main line service you will be using.

Isn31c, thank you.

the above answer is spot on

South West Trains will run ONLY on the following routes on strike day-
London Waterloo to Basingstoke- 1 train per hour each way calling only at London Waterloo, Clapham Junction, Surbiton, Woking, Brookwood, Farnborough, Fleet, Winchfield, Hook, Basingstoke- 0715 to 1815 from Waterloo and 0651 to 1810 from Basingstoke;
London Waterloo to Woking-4 trains per hour each way peak/2 off peak calling only at London Waterloo, Clapham Junction,
Wimbledon, Surbiton, Esher, Hersham, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge, Byfleet & New Haw, West Byfleet, Woking- 0720 to 1820 from Waterloo and 0645 to 1750 from Woking;
London Waterloo to Guildford via Woking- 1 train per hour calling only at London Waterloo, Clapham Junction, Surbiton, Woking,
Worplesdon, Guildford- 0749 to 1749 from Guildford, 0745 to 1745 from Waterloo;
London Waterloo to Feltham via Twickenham- 2 trains per hour calling only at London Waterloo, Vauxhall, Clapham Junction,
Wandsworth Town, Putney, Barnes, Mortlake, North Sheen, Richmond, St Margarets, Twickenham, Whitton, Feltham- 0711 to 1811 from Feltham and 0719 to 1807 from Waterloo;
Basingstoke to Salisbury*- 1 train per hour calling only at Salisbury, Grateley, Andover, Whitchurch, Overton, Basingstoke- 0636 to 1721 from Salisbury and 0715 to 1832 from Basingstoke

GWR (Great Western Railway) have now published their strike day timetable-
Only the following routes will run-
London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads- 1 train per hour- from Paddington 0728 to 1928, from Bristol 0730 to 1930- NOTE these trains will NOT call at Bath (the only train to call at Bath is the 1750 from Penzance at 2214);
London and Oxford- ex Paddington at 0822, 1123, 1422, 1734 and 2023 ONLY, ex Oxford at 0707, 0959, 1302, 1602 and 1901 ONLY;
Other trains will run from Reading to Didcot Parkway (terminating) hourly at 0742 to 1942 from Reading and Didcot Parkway 0859 to 2006
Reading and Basingstoke- hourly from Reading 0737 to 1832, from Basingstoke 0836 to 1907;
Reading and Redhill (peak time only)- from Reading at 0720, 1420 and 1720; from Redhill at 0642, 0854, 1558 and 1859;
Reading and Newbury (peak time only)- from Reading at 0710, 0846, 1612 and 1806; from Newbury at 0753, 0925, 1706 and 1847, also the 1035 from Paddington to Exeter will call at Newbury at 1116 (that train also calls at Hungerford, Pewsey, Westbury, Castle Cary, Taunton and Tiverton Parkway);
Westbury and Swindon (peak time only)- from Swindon at 0845 and 1736, and from Westbury at 0745 and 1625;
Cardiff and Bristol Temple Meads- hourly from Cardiff at 0728 to 2139, and from Bristol at 0636 to 1931 plus the extra from Paddington (below);
Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple (peak time only)- from Barnstaple at 0835 and 1733, from Exeter St Davids at 0707 and 1618;
Exeter St Davids and Exmouth (calling at Exeter Central, Digby and Topsham only)- hourly 1044 to 1849 from Exmouth; 0716 to 1415 from Exeter;
Plymouth and Gunnislake- normal service 0630-1838 from Plymouth and 0725 to 1933 from Gunnislake;
Penzance and St Ives- hourly 0732 to 1905 from St Ives and 0658 to 1841 from Penzance

There is also one train at 1035 Paddington to Exeter St David's (arrive 1307) and one train from Penzance at 1750 to London Paddington- arrives at 2359

The 1830 from Paddington to Bristol will extend to Cardiff Central arriving at 2119- there is no reciprocal morning up working.

Anyone travelling to Bath on 7 December will need to use National Express from London or train to Bristol, then local bus to Bath.

@sanomh (travelling from Reading) has been sent a PM regarding travel arrangements.

For Oxford on 7 December, from London, use the Oxford Tube bus service or Chiltern train services from London Marylebone.

GWR have also indicated the following:

NO trains will run on long-distance services between London Paddington and Bristol, South Wales and Devon and Cornwall on Sunday 3 December.

There does seem to be a hourly service only as far as Swindon.

... and, on Sunday, no direct trains to Oxford, change into a shuttle service at Didcot Parkway. Trains to the West Country start from Bristol Temple Meads, and to Cardiff from Bristol Parkway, with connections west from Cardiff on Transport for Wales services.
Devon and Cornwall branches are running as normal. You can still reach Exeter on the South Western services from Waterloo, so you can still reach Devon and Cornwall by train from London

The hourly North Cotts line services are still timetabled (Worcester, Great Malvern, Hereford etc) so there should be a direct fast service from Paddington to Oxford about half the frequency of normal. There is also technically a way to get from Swindon to Bristol going via Trowbridge / Westbury or Gloucester but this would be a real distress route as the connections are bad and very infrequent on this Sunday.

I am no expert in this but I think this has all arisen because GWR drivers on 'legacy' contracts work on Sunday voluntarily. So in action short of a strike they can all not volunteer and not be in breach. More recent contracts have a number of Sundays which are not considered voluntary, and that includes all the drivers based out of Worcester which is a relatively new base. The high speed services have a greater percentage on legacy terms.

This will NOT affect this current round of strikes, BUT the RMT (the other union) have now accepted the pay deal, so their (less disruptive) strikes are now over, until next spring anyway.

A bit of a surprise move.

At 0850 this morning the trains to the Cotswolds Line were not in the timetable, which it seems was still being built. To get very technical this morning only the STP (Short Term Plan) trains were in. Since then the VAR (for Variation- trains which are normally timetabled but have had the timetable amended for some reason) have been added.

Odd because they were in there when I wrote earlier, although I didn't actually mention them. Was checking out the GWR release which only referred to HSS. Could have been an earlier timetable version that was changed - all a bit of a hokey cokey it seems. Mind you I wouldn't be surprised if some don't run one way or another in the end; as well as sudden non availability of staff the line has suffered with a number of failures this week and not just the ones closer in to Paddington.

I’m planning to get the train from Waterloo to Walton on Thames on the morning of Saturday Dec 9th to visit cousins , just for the day, so coming back in the evening.
Is this route likely to be affected in some way?
It sounds like all routes will be extra busy whatever the case.
Thank you again for keeping us all up to date!

@SJ- Apart from the risk of the odd short notice cancellation due to lack of a driver- on the last day of the overtime ban you should be all right.
I'm just going into the City Council meeting now, but need to check for engineering works.

Thank you so much.
I suppose I could take a bus there if I needed to, I have all day.

Update- no engineering work on that weekend- the engineering is in the Staines (affecting Waterloo to Windsor trains) and in the Aldershot area. But yes there is the bus 555 from Heathrow, the 461, 514 and 515 from Kingston on Thames and the 458 from Staines

Stansted Express (a subsidiary of Greater Anglia) now turn out to also be affected by the strikes.
On Tuesday 5 December (Strike Day) the service pattern is-
London to Stansted Airport - first train is 04.40, last train is 23:25, 1 train per hour
Stansted Airport to London - first train is 05.43, last train is 00:30 (on wednesday), 1 train per hour
On Wednesday 6 December there will be a normal service BUT starting later
London to Stansted Airport - first train is 07.55
Stansted Airport to London - first train is 07.17

Thanks @isn31c and all the helpful folks on this thread. Following the great advice, we've decided to use the BlackBerry car service to get from Heathrow to Bath on 7 December (morning arrival from Boston). The cost of the car is only about 50GBP more than the original train tickets, totally worth it. And I was able to request refund via app (I originally booked on the LNER app, so that's how I requested the refund). I've already received notice that the refund has been approved and processed.

Good luck to others trying to rebook travel, hopefully it goes just as smoothly.

On South West Trains see also this post for an emergency line closure next week between Woking and Basingstoke affecting both local trains and long distance ones to Salisbury, Hampshire and Dorset- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/woking-to-basingstoke-railway-emergency-line-closure

Further to the above South West Trains on Sunday 3 December are NOT operating to Exeter St David's. All trains from London Waterloo will terminate at Yeovil Junction and start back from there.
There is no driver availability to Exeter and they have been unable to source replacement buses.

This late change shows the volatility of rail services (especially weekend ones) during the overtime ban.

So the only ways to Bristol will either be to Swindon, then Cheltenham Spa then Cross Country trains to Bristol; or Great Western London to Worcestershire Parkway on the North Cotswolds line then Cross Country trains to Bristol.
Other modes of travel are strongly advised.

I just received notification from GWR confirming the Thursday 7 December industrial action that Nigel shared for GWR and CrossCountry.

In addition, there could be further disruption until Saturday 9 December, due to industrial action short of a strike, which is likely to cause some short-notice alterations or cancellations.

The much bigger problem than crew shortages on Great Western today has been flooding at multiple locations.

This can be expected to persist across much of the Great Western network for the rest of the week given the large number of flood warnings and the current forecast. This may also affect other parts of the country- especially given that a rapid thaw in the snow affected areas in the North of England can be expected.

Keep checking train company websites and be prepared for short notice disruption from this added complication.