Rail passengers across Britain are preparing for another round of strikes. On Saturday, train drivers belonging to the Aslef union and working for nine train operators will stop work.
Next week, it’s the turn of around 40,000 members of the RMT union to walk out, bringing many rail services across the UK to a halt.
But passengers on the West Coast main line will see a much more sustained reduction in trains – with Avanti West Coast bringing in an emergency timetable cutting hundreds of services every day. At the same time, people trying to book trains online are seeing they are indicated as “sold out”.
So what’s going on? These are the key questions and answers.
What are the schedule cuts?
Starting on Sunday rail services linking London Euston with the West Midlands, northwest England and southern Scotland will be sharply cut back.
The biggest reductions are on services linking Birmingham and Manchester with London – reduced by two-thirds, with one train each hour rather than three. There will also be cuts to Chester and North Wales, and from London via the West Midlands to Edinburgh.
Why is this happening?
Avanti West Coast says: “This is due to the current industrial relations climate, resulting in severe staff shortages through increased sickness, as well as unofficial strike action by Aslef members.
“As a result of the majority of drivers making themselves unavailable for overtime in a co-ordinated fashion, and at short notice, our customers have faced multiple short-notice cancellations which has had a severe impact on their plans.”
Typically Avanti West Coast relies on 250 drivers per day working on their rest days – covering around 400 passenger trains. The number of volunteers was consistent.
But sources say that literally overnight, the number of drivers working rest days dropped dramatically – by almost 90 per cent.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, wrote in a tweet: “Unions now stopping drivers volunteering - causing misery for public & staff who won’t get paid.”
Avanti West Coast says it wants to “ensure a reliable service is delivered so our customers can travel with greater certainty” – though it recognises that the emergency timetable will cause “enormous frustration and inconvenience”.
What does the train drivers’ union have to say?
Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, says there is an overwhelming mandate for industrial action on Avanti West Coast (with an official strike on Saturday.
He told The Independent: “When you lose goodwill and we go on strike, people not then coming in to work overtime is the first thing that normally happens.”
The Aslef boss says the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, and the train operator falsely accused the union of taking unofficial industrial action because people chose not to come to work.
“Destroying the goodwill further, so they’re less likely to come in to work overtime for you, doesn’t work,” he said.
Meanwhile passengers are caught in the middle. What’s happening with ticket sales?
From today (Friday) you should be able to buy tickets for 14-17 and 19 August; that’s Sunday to Wednesday, plus Friday.
On Thursday 18 August there’s another strike, and we won’t know until Tuesday 16 August what’s happening. And on Wednesday 17 August we’ll find out the plans for the RMT strike on Saturday 20 August, which will also affect some services on Sunday.
For the following three weeks, there will be a similar pattern of releasing tickets a few days ahead – but without additional strike days, unless more are called.
Every train at the day and time I want travel shows “sold out”. Are they really?
No. The message means that no Advance tickets are on sale at present. With so much pressure on the surviving trains, they may not go on sale at all for many services.
At any time, there’s nothing to stop you (except possibly the price) buying a “walk-up” ticket for any train that’s running – though you may need to stand.
I’ve already got a ticket for an Avanti train. What happens if the service is cancelled?
You should know whether your service is running a few days ahead. If it happens to be cancelled, your ticket will be accepted on the Avanti West Coast service before or after your original booked train.
“Alternatively, you can claim a full, fee-free refund from your point of purchase if you no longer wish to travel due to the amended timetable,” the train firm says.
To be clear, this means anyone who has an advance ticket booked up to 11 September can claim an immediate refund now. That includes bookings through Trainline, on which you can get your money back by clicking “Manage Booking” in your confirmation email.
Could I travel on alternative train operators?
Yes. Between Birmingham, Coventry, Rugby and Euston, London Northwestern Railway runs slower (and cheaper) services. It also has a pretty quick link from Crewe to the capital, with connections across the northwest. This could be the best bet for many travellers.
Chilterns runs frequent and fairly fast services linking Birmingham (Snow Hill and Moor Street) with London Marylebone. These could also be used from stations such as Wolverhampton and Stafford with local connections.
Tickets marked “Avanti West Coast only” cannot be used on other operators’ trains.
Finally, a reminder about the strikes on this coming Saturday and next week …
The nine train firms whose drivers are walking out on 13 August include the main inter-city operators, Avanti West Coast, LNER, CrossCountry and GWR. In particular there will be no trains in Devon or Cornwall and very few others on those operators.
Next Thursday and Saturday (18 and 20 August) it’s the turn of the RMT – which will affect services nationwide, due to signallers walking out. The disruption will also impact Friday and Sunday.
It’s going to be a long, hot summer.
