The ASLEF union has announced industrial action will be taking place between Saturday 2 December and Friday 8 December 2023, as well as action short of a strike between Friday 1 December and Saturday 9 December affecting rail services operating through South Yorkshire.
How will this impact rail services?
On strike days any services which do operate are expected to be extremely busy and operate a reduced timetable, starting later than usual and finishing earlier (before 19:00).
Customers are advised ‘Do not travel’ on strike days.
On the day after each strike a significantly reduced level of service will be in place as trains will be in the wrong locations and customers should expect some disruption to the advertised service levels.
Between Friday 1 and Saturday 9 December, there may be some short notice alterations or cancellations as unions take action short of strike.
Customers should check their entire journey before they travel and expect severe disruption.
CrossCountry
Thursday 7 December
There will be no services operating.
Further information including timetables will be available shortly at – crosscountrytrains.co.uk/disruption
East Midlands Railways
Saturday 2 December
There will be no services operating.
Friday 8 December
Services are expected to run as normal. However, trains are subject to short notice alterations or cancellations.
As a result of strike action by Northern and TransPennine Express, EMR will run a planned timetable between Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich. Services along this route are expected to be exceptionally busy.
Customers will face extended journey times and may not be able to board the service they planned for.
Further information including timetables will be available shortly at eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/rail-strike.
London North Eastern Railway
Saturday 2 December
A reduced timetable will run between Edinburgh and London (via Doncaster) and Leeds and London.
Sunday 3 December
Planned engineering work means there will be no trains to or from London King’s Cross. If travel is essential, bus replacements are in place, but with extremely limited availability and will take considerably longer (approximately 120 minutes).
Further information including timetables will be available shortly at lner.co.uk/travel-information/Industrial-action/.
Northern Rail
Saturday 2 December
Services are expected to be very busy between Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester and Liverpool due to there being no EMR services operating as a result of industrial action.
Friday 8 December
TBC
Further information including timetables will be available shortly at https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/strikes
TransPennine Express
Saturday 2 December
Services are expected to be very busy between Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester and Liverpool due to there being no EMR services operating as a result of industrial action.
Friday 8 December
There will be no services operating.
Further information including timetables will be available shortly at tpexpress.co.uk/travel-updates/strike-action.
Tickets
Operators are relaxing rules relating to ticket validity on strike days. Customers are advised to check with their respective operator as they may be able to travel before or after strike days or claim a full refund with no admin fee if they decide not to travel (from point of purchase or the operator’s refunds page).
Some ticket offices across the region may to be closed, this will reduce the range of tickets available.
Planning ahead and how to help?
Customers are advised not to travel on strike days. If they do need to travel they should check before they make their journey and allow extra time to allow for disruption and short notice changes. Customers can plan their journey using the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner at ojp.nationalrail.co.uk, which will be updated as soon as service levels for each operator are known.
We are also providing information to support passengers affected by the industrial action via our Travel South Yorkshire channels, where we bring together information from all of the bus, tram and train operators, as follows:
• On the TSY website travelsouthyorkshire.com via the disruptions page
• On X (Twitter) @TravelSYorks
• By phone via Traveline on 800 952 0002
