Major Rail Strike Planned For Monday And Tuesday Is Called Off

Rachel Holdsworth
By Rachel Holdsworth Last edited 106 months ago
Major Rail Strike Planned For Monday And Tuesday Is Called Off

Photo by Sean Batten from the Londonist Flickr pool.

UPDATE 2.50pm: It's OK, everyone stand down. Both unions have called off the strike action after reaching agreement with Network Rail.

ORIGINAL STORY: Weren't planning to do anything rail-related over the bank holiday were you? Or use the trains to get to work on Tuesday? You were? Then you may need to revise your plans, because Network Rail staff are going on strike.

Network Rail is the company that maintains the track, signals and power supply, so for once you can't blame this on your local train operator. The strike is currently slated to start at 5pm on Monday and run for 24 hours, with no overtime throughout Monday and Tuesday. Talks are ongoing though and there's always a chance it will be called off. The dispute is over a four year pay offer which the TSSA union says would mean its members falling behind the cost of living.

Services affected in London

Follow the links for more information on the train operator's website; more detail will be available on Saturday and we'll update this article then. One common theme that comes across though: these companies really really don't want you to travel.

c2c: services are expected to start winding down from 3pm on Monday and will be disrupted until the end of Tuesday.

Chiltern: some limited services will run between 7.30am and 5pm on Monday. On Tuesday limited services will run between 7.30am and 10pm, but no trains will leave Marylebone between 5pm-7pm.

First Great Western: trains will operate on a reduced frequency between 7.30am and 6.30pm on Monday and Tuesday. Trains from Paddington to Didcot and Reading will run around every 30 minutes.

Greater Anglia: no services after midday on Monday, and very limited services to Norwich, Colchester, Shenfield and Stansted Airport on Tuesday. Normal service will start from 6am on Wednesday but it will take a while to get everything running.

London Midland: no real information yet but they're working on it.

Southeastern: expects to run a "very limited service" on Monday and Tuesday, and may not be back to normal by Wednesday.

Southern: expects "severe disruption" on Monday and Tuesday. Also, drivers at Southern have just voted to strike over pay. Because Southern commuters don't have enough problems.

South West Trains: not much detail yet, though a timetable will be published on Saturday. Tickets for Monday and Tuesday will be valid on Sunday and Wednesday.

Thameslink and Great Northern: a very limited service will run from around 7.30am to midday on Monday and Tuesday, with disruption also expected on Wednesday. There'll be a queueing system in place at stations, and tickets for strike days will be valid on Sunday and Wednesday.

Transport for London: the only Overground services running will be between New Cross/New Cross Gate and Dalston Junction, between 8am-1pm on Monday and 8am-5pm on Tuesday. Bakerloo line trains won't run north of Queen's Park, District line trains won't run between Wimbledon and Putney Bridge after 5pm on Monday and all day Tuesday, or between Turnham Green and Richmond all day Monday and Tuesday. The Waterloo and City line will be closed. TfL is also putting on extra buses, mainly in south London.

Airport trains: Heathrow Express will run services every 15 minutes but will start and finish earlier than usual. Heathrow Connect, Stansted Express and Gatwick Express don't have information at the time of writing.

Last Updated 21 May 2015