Train strike dates 2024: Everything we need about January and February disruption

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The dispute between the prepare drivers’ union, Aslef, and 14 prepare operators in England is into its third calendar 12 months.

With no settlement in sight to the lengthy and bitter row over pay and working preparations, the union has introduced its first strikes for 2024.

Train drivers belonging to Aslef will cease work region-by-region over the course of per week between Tuesday 30 January and Monday 5 February. Thousands of trains are more likely to be cancelled on every day.

The impact will likely be exacerbated by a nine-day ban on extra time operating from 29 January to six February.

But a separate five-day strike known as by Aslef aimed particularly at LNER, between 5 and 9 February, has been known as off. A spokesperson for the prepare operator mentioned: “We welcome news that the threat of extended disruption to our services has been lifted.

“We encourage Aslef to work with us to find a way to end this long-running dispute which only damages the rail industry.”

These are the important thing questions and solutions.

Which rail corporations are affected?

Aslef is in dispute with the prepare operators which can be contracted by the federal government to offer rail companies. They are:

Intercity operators:

Southeast England commuter operators:

Operators specializing in the Midlands and north of England:

ScotRail, Transport for Wales, Transport for London (together with the Elizabeth Line), Merseyrail and “open-access” operators resembling Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo should not concerned. But their companies are more likely to be extraordinarily crowded on stretches the place they duplicate strike-hit firms.

What is the strike schedule?

Monday 29 January: extra time ban begins.

Tuesday 30 January: South Western Railway, Southeastern and GTR (Southern, Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Thameslink).

Wednesday 31 January: Northern and TransPennine Express.

Thursday 1 February: no strike however extra time ban continues.

Friday 2 February: Greater Anglia, C2C and LNER (the final of which has a further strike throughout the next week).

Saturday 3 February: West Midlands Trains, Avanti West Coast and East Midlands Railway.

Sunday 4 February: no strike however extra time ban continues.

Monday 5 February: Great Western, CrossNation and Chiltern. LNER strike begins, operating all week to 9 February.

Tuesday 6 February: no strike however extra time ban continues for a last day.

What are the seemingly results of the strikes?

These predictions are primarily based on newest statements from rail corporations and The Independent’s remark of earlier strikes. They needs to be confirmed earlier than journey.

Great Northern (30 January): Shuttle service calling at London Kings Cross and Cambridge solely (and in all probability branded Thameslink) with restricted working hours.

Thameslink (30 January): Shuttle service calling at St Pancras, Luton Airport Parkway and Luton solely. The agency says its trains “will be extremely busy” and that queueing methods will likely be in place.

“You may not be able to board your chosen service,” says Thameslink. If you’re planning to journey on one of many final trains of the day, please bear in mind that, relying on the scale of the queue, you might not be capable of board a service in any respect, and no different transport choices will likely be offered after the final prepare departs. Please plan forward and depart loads of time to achieve your vacation spot.”

Southeastern (30 January): No trains.

Southern (30 January): No trains besides a nonstop shuttle service between London Victoria and Gatwick airport, from 6am to 11.30pm.

Gatwick Express (30 January): The Southern airport shuttle, above, is doing the work.

South Western Railway (30 January): The service is comparatively in depth.

Northern (31 January): No trains. The operator says that it expects two key routes to be very busy on 3 February when East Midlands Railway is on strike: Leeds-Sheffield-Nottingham and Sheffield-ManchesterTransPennine Express (31 January): No trains. “There will be some alterations to evening services on Tuesday 30 January and to early morning services on Thursday 1 February,” the corporate says.

C2C (2 February): No trains. The firm warns: “Upminster car park will likely become full and close early in the day.” Upminster is the jap finish of the District Line of the London Underground, which will likely be operating usually.

Greater Anglia (2 February): Limited service linking London Liverpool Street with Norwich, Ipswich and Colchester; Southend Victoria; Cambridge; and Stansted airport.

LNER (2 February): Regular trains on core routes linking London King’s Cross with Doncaster, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh. First trains will depart at round 8am, with most journeys completed by 7pm. Leeds can have a restricted direct service, however connections can be found from Doncaster.

Avanti West Coast (3 February): No trains. The operator says: “Services on the days either side of the strike will also be affected.”

East Midlands Railway (3 February): No trains. The prepare agency warns: “No rail replacement bus services will be provided. Other train operators may be running a reduced service due to an overtime ban.”

West Midlands Railway (3 February): No trains, and a warning that companies on Sunday 4 February will see widespread delays and cancellations.

Chiltern (5 February): No trains both on the strike day or on the day prior to this, Sunday 4 February, because the prepare operator relies on drivers working extra time on Sunday to function any trains in any respect. The extra time ban means no companies will run.

CrossNation (5 February): No trains.

Great Western Railway (5 February): On the precise strike day, a core service will run between London Paddington and Oxford, Bath and Bristol, with a hyperlink from Bristol to Cardiff. A restricted service on department strains in Devon and Cornwall. The Night Riviera sleeper service from London to Penzance is not going to run for numerous nights. The Heathrow Express can also be more likely to be affected, with a decreased service between 7am and 7pm solely.

In addition to the disruption on strike days, trains on adjoining days could also be affected. Services on today are additionally more likely to be extraordinarily busy because of passengers transferring their journeys to keep away from industrial motion.

What about the brand new minimal service ranges legislation?

Legislation now permits the transport secretary to stipulate minimal service ranges (MSLs) on strike days amounting to 40 per cent of the conventional service.

As far as The Independent is conscious, no prepare operator is searching for to impose the brand new legislation on the prepare drivers’ union.

The Transport Select Committee has beforehand warned of potential unintended penalties of the laws. The Conservative chair, Iain Stewart, mentioned: “There is a risk of MSLs worsening worker-employer relations and that, as a result, MSLs could end up making services less reliable.”

Is there a ‘worst day’?

Yes. In phrases of sheer variety of passengers hit, Monday 29 January would be the most disruptive. It is geared toward commuters in southeast England, nearly all of whom use the affected prepare operators.

Intercity travellers will likely be worst affected on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 February, when the principle operators on the East Coast and West Coast important strains, in addition to the Midland mainline, will likely be hit.

Sunday 4 February can also be more likely to be severely disrupted due to the ban on rest-day working in addition to deliberate engineering work between Birmingham and Wolverhampton on the West Coast important line and between London King’s Cross and Stevenage on the East Coast important line. Chiltern Railway, which might usually run trains between London and Birmingham, says no companies will run in any respect because of the extra time ban.

What would be the wider impression of the extra time ban?

The minimal service degree guidelines don’t apply to union bans on non-contractual rest-day working.

The extra time ban alone will trigger hundreds of cancellations. Aslef says no prepare operator “employs enough drivers to provide the service they promise passengers and businesses they will deliver without asking drivers to work their days off”.

Sunday remains to be not a part of the working week at numerous prepare operators, so 4 February will likely be significantly disrupted by the ban on rest-day working.

GWR says: “There will be significant disruption to services and customers should travel on alternative days. No trains will operate on long-distance routes between London Paddington and Bristol, South Wales and Exeter/Plymouth/Penzance.”

The basic warning to passengers over the last Aslef extra time ban from 1 to 9 December 2023: “Trains are subject to short notice alterations and cancellations.”

Several rail corporations introduced pre-emptive cancellations for the earlier extra time ban, as follows:

C2C: “Severely reduced service” at weekends, with many trains additionally minimize on weekdays.

Chiltern: Significantly decreased service on most routes, with no trains in any respect on some department strains. “Services on all routes will finish earlier than usual.”

Gatwick Express: No trains through the extra time ban. Southern trains will hyperlink London Victoria and Gatwick airport all through the economic motion.

London Northwestern Railway/West Midlands Railway: Branch strains between Bletchley and Bedford, Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey, and Leamington Spa and Nuneaton, will likely be closed on most or all days.

Southern: “An amended timetable with fewer services will run. Services may start later and finish earlier than usual.”

Thameslink warns: “A reduced frequency amended timetable will be in operation.”

Some trains could limit both boarding or leaving trains at sure stations to keep away from overcrowding.

What if I need to achieve an airport?

London Heathrow will stay accessible always on the Elizabeth Line and the Tube.

Passengers utilizing London Gatwick will likely be considerably affected on the primary day of strikes, Tuesday 30 January, when no Gatwick Express nor Thameslink trains will run. But passengers between London and Gatwick will get a good variety of trains through the day.

London Stansted can have an hourly skeleton service from the capital on Tuesday 5 December, with “service alterations” on all the opposite days of the extra time ban.

Luton airport will stay accessible by rail, not less than from London, on all days: on the Thameslink strike day, 30 January, Thameslink can have a decreased service from London St Pancras to Luton Airport Parkway. In addition, the East Midlands Railway hyperlink will likely be operating.On 3 February, when no East Midlands Railway companies are more likely to run, Thameslink will likely be working.

Birmingham airport is more likely to be inaccessible by rail, apart from Transport for Wales from Birmingham New Street, on Saturday 3 February.

Manchester airport is more likely to be inaccessible by rail, apart from an hourly hyperlink on Transport for Wales to and from central Manchester, Chester and North Wales, on Wednesday 31 January.

Will Eurostar be affected?

No, trains will proceed to run as regular between London St Pancras International and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. But connecting journeys will likely be troublesome on strike days – significantly Tuesday 30 January, when Thameslink and Southeastern are out, and on Saturday 3 February when no East Midlands Railway companies are more likely to run.

What does Aslef say?

In an unique interview with The Independent, Aslef basic secretary Mick Whelan mentioned: “Any industrial action is incredibly damaging, but after 18 months out on strike and after a year with no one in the government or the [train operating] companies talking to us, we are forced to raise the profile of our issues.

“When we get to February, it’ll be half a decade without a pay rise. What do we do? Do we do nothing?

“The only thing that is going to get us out of this is a clean deal.”

Without an settlement, he says: “It’s going to get messier. It’s going to get worse.”

What do the rail corporations say?

A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group, representing the prepare operators, mentioned: “There are no winners from these strikes that will unfortunately cause disruption for our customers. We believe rail can have a bright future, but right now taxpayers are contributing an extra £54m a week to keep services running post-Covid.

“Aslef’s leadership need to recognise the financial challenge facing rail. Drivers have been made an offer which would take base salaries to nearly £65,000 for a four-day week before overtime – that is well above the national average and significantly more than many of our customers that have no option to work from home are paid.

“Instead of staging more damaging industrial action, we call on the Aslef leadership to work with us to resolve this dispute and deliver a fair deal which both rewards our people, and makes the changes needed to make services more reliable.” What does the federal government say?

A Department for Transport spokesperson mentioned: “It’s very disappointing to see Aslef continuing to target those who travel to work, school or important medical appointments by train.

“Aslf is now the only rail union that is continuing to strike while refusing to put a fair and reasonable offer to its members. The offer that remains on the table and would bring the average train driver’s salary up to £65,000.

“The Aslef leadership should do the right thing and let their members decide their own future, instead of deciding it for them.”

What does the Labour Party say it might do if elected?

The shadow rail minister, Stephen Morgan MP, mentioned: “Labour will bring our railways back into public ownership, as contracts expire, and ensure services work in the interests of the passenger.”