FLASH Train strikes suspended - July 20 update

What exactly does this mean? Will rail from london to Edinburgh be affected?

No. As of now, no strikes planned on that route. (I'm guessing Virgin East Trains.)

Thanks Nigel. Just bumping your thread to get it out of the line of spam.

When are these strikes supposed to happen? We have tickets from Bath to Oxford July 24, Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh July 25, Oxford to Stratford-upon-Avon July 26, and Oxford to London July 27. Does this affect all trains or only certain companies?

The companies affect are listed in Nigel's post.

Bath to Oxford July 24
Cross Country Trains - not affected

Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh
Great Western Railway - not affected

Oxford to Stratford-upon-Avon July 26
Cross Country and Chiltern railways - not affected

Oxford to London July 27
either Great Western Railway or Chiltern railways - not affected

I have tickets on the Southeastern from St. Pancras to Dover Priory on July 29th. Am I in trouble with the strike?

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed on this. Finally got my husband to agree to a train vacation (instead of a rental car), and we have our tickets for the end of August, beginning of September. I hope no strikes during this time!!!

UPDATED:

if your train isn't operated by one of the listed companies - Southern, Northern, or Merseyrail - you won't be affected by these strikes which are as a result of the government getting these companies to remove the second safety critical person from these trains, many of which are very crowded.

I haven't seen the actual strike dates announced yet but it will be soon.

The first action however is not an actual strike. The drivers (called engineers in the US) don't want the changes either and they voted for an ban on overtime (voluntary overtime) starting on Thursday this week. The railway companies are chronically understaffed and rely deeply on large amounts of both driver and conductor (train manager) overtime. The result is a planned approximately 1,000 trains per day on Southern to be cancelled as a result of the refusal of overtime. That sounds huge but that is by no means all of their services.

Further bad news is that two other companies have traincrew ballots for action coming shortly - when I hear I will update.

For the post about late August train travel, there will be considerable disruption of the bank holiday weekend around the country, and I will post a new thread about the August alterations in a few hours after I have had a little sleep.

Nigel - I just want to say - You're AWESOME!

We arrive in London on August 30. Take a Grand Central train to York on September 1. On September 7 we take a Grand Central train to Liverpool. On September 11, we take a Virgin train back to London. Sounds like we will be OK? Thanks so much for the information!

Sharon,

You won't be taking a Grand Central from York to Liverpool as they don't operate that route - it'll be a Transpennine, most probably. Regardless: yes, as things stand you'll be okay.

Thanks for this information. At the top of my Booking Conformation, it says Grand Central. But I see in small print below the York to Liverpool reservation it says "only valid on booked First Transpennine Express services and required connecting services. This is our first "train vacation" - it's been a challenge with the booking. Thanks again.

In the event that a train does not run, the same or other companies are obligated to carry ‘stranded’ passengers. (This can lead to overcrowding).

You appear to have bought your ticket from Grand Central. Any rail company can sell the tickets of any rail company.

Nigel, I have tickets on the Southeastern from St. Pancras to Dover Priory on July 29th. We booked the high speed train that only takes 1 hr and 3 minutes. This looks like it is one of the trains in the middle of this mess. Am I correct and is there any other train service to Dover? Thank you for all your help.

South Eastern is not the same as Southern. The high speed train that you use from St.Pancras will mainly be on the HS1 track that goes to the channel tunnel before coming off to enter Dover.

Nigel, I second that you are AWESOME!!! When I saw the names Northern Rail and Southern Rail, I didn't realize they were the names of rail companies, I thought they meant regions. I had only seen the names Great Western and Chiltern as those are the ones that came up for my routes. Thank you so much for the info.

For clarity -

There are about 26 TOCs. That is about 26 brand names. These are Train Operating Companies which have a franchise to provide train services in a particular area. For example, there is Great Western who provide service from London Paddington towards the west and southwest. There is Chiltern who provide service on what used to be a secondary line to Birmingham and Oxford from London Marylebone. Or Virgin West Coast who go from London Euston to north Wales, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow on the West Coast main line. And so on. These are not exclusive franchises, so on the West Coast main line from London Euston as far as Liverpool there is also London Midland which is a commuter railway (many more trains, many more passengers, much more frequently and cheaper but much slower) which both competes with the others but also feeds long distance passengers to Virgin.

And to complicate things, there are a few non-franchise companies who basically rent the rails and access, such as Hull Trains, Grand Central and Heathrow Express.

Most of these are owned by just a few holding groups. For example, Southern (which has much of the labour trouble at the moment) as well as Southeastern, Gatwick Express, and London Midland which collectively provide most of London's commuters their ride into work are all owned by Go-Via.

Stagecoach own most of Virgin West Coast, and Virgin East Coast; and all of East Midlands Trains and until very recently owned Southwestern.

The labour troubles are only at a few of these companies, although the staff at most of the others are watching very carefully because what happens at Southern will likely eventually spread throughout the country unless it is stopped. That could cause major disruption over a long time. But there is no sign of that yet.

I'll "third" your awesomeness. You are always so well informed and wonderfully generous about sharing your knowledge with those of us lucky enough to be traveling to London/England, etc. Your insight and information is always very much appreciated. Thanks!

A few suggestions:

Get travel insurance - be sure it covers strikes - when you travel!

Check out www.seat61.com for train info and tips. Best sight I've ever seen in 4 years living over here. I book through him every chance I get, because I use his resources often!

Susan
Waterville, Ireland

Balloting is now taking place among the Southern drivers to decide on full blown strikes which would be an escalation from an overtime ban.

I'm planning to go from London Paddington to Windsor Castle in the beginning of July...will the strike affect my travels?

Paddington to Slough and onwards to Windsor is Great Western Railway and not affected, and in July should have no issues.

However for other readers, if you check the other thread about bank holiday closures https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/england-august-bank-holiday-rail-major-disruptions if your trip is during the blockade you may be affected. Nevertheless getting to Windsor should be quite straightforward.

UPDATED Monday July 3

STRIKE DATES ANNOUNCED

Northern Rail will be having a three-day strike from this Saturday. Merseyrail and Southern will also be striking this weekend .

This is in addition to the Southern Railway driver overtime ban, so if using Southern at all you're well advised to check whether your train might run and leave plenty of time. There have been many reports of short-term cancellations.

This is also affecting Gatwick Express so leave plenty of time and expect very crowded trains.

Unlikely there will be many tourists using Northern Rail, but just in case: Northern covers lower-density routes in the North of England. The only notable routes I can think of that will be affected is Newcastle to Carlisle, all services to Whitby, and the Settle to Carlisle line. The Lake District stations have other, non-striking operators using the stations.

So, can I take the Thameslink from Gatwick Aiprort (to get to London) instead of Southern, for Thursday?

yes

Are train strikes now a possibility each day this summer? Could this continue into autumn and winter?

The company is doing what the government requires it to do in the contract they signed cloaked as improvements to passenger service, and until the government gives in it is unlikely they will budge; the guards and drivers believe that there are nefarious processes at work removing critical safety for the passengers and trains, supported by disabled and vulnerable passengers and many others, and it is unlikely they will budge.

This has been dragging on for many months, and until one side gives up it is unlikely to be resolved.

With the government considerably weaker at the moment there may be a resolution but I'm not holding my breath.

Before there can be strikes the unions have to receive a mandate from the members - which they have done - and give notice. I haven't seen notice for any strikes after July, but the summer is a long one and there may be notices that I don't see.

Thank you very much.

See the FLASH in the introductory paragraph above.