East Midlands Railway has warned passengers to only try and travel by rail if absolutely necessary this Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday as the UK faces the biggest train strike in 30 years.
It is offering vastly reduced services during the strike and stopping trains after 6.30pm, and has warned people to leave plenty of extra time for their journeys.
Nationally only around 20 per cent of trains will run on each of the three days with further disruption on days following the action as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 13 train operators take action over pay and conditions.
The RMT and Unite is also holding a 24-hour walkout on London Underground which will cause huge disruption to the Tube.
The TUC is calling on the Westminster government to adopt a positive role in the dispute, saying it was “inflaming tensions” with comments such as threats to revoke workers’ legal rights and bring in legislation to allow temporary agency staff to fill striking workers’ roles.
East Midlands Railway runs services on the Midlands Mainline between London and stations such as Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield.
It said services will only run between 7.30am and 6.30pm on each of the three days.
It recommends that anyone needing to make essential rail journeys should check the services available before setting out.
It said: “Services have been reduced significantly during these dates. EMR will still offer booked Passenger Assistance [for people with disabilities] in line with their current policy of two hour booking window.
“EMR are proactively contacting customers who have booked assistance on the services that are affected and will be offered a refund or the chance to reschedule their journey.
“We expect that trains running on strike days to be extremely busy and crowded. Our team will be available to assist all customers during the affected dates.”
During the strike action East Midlands Railway said routes will be cut to a single service per hour, with some cancelled all together.
Managing director Will Rogers said: “We are extremely disappointed the RMT have decided to strike on the 21, 23 and 25 June.
“This is the wrong decision for the railway and communities we serve.
“There will be changes to our normal timetable and some parts of our network will have no train services on strike days and other lines will have a reduced level of service.
“I would urge all customers to think carefully about their journeys next week – and make alternative arrangements if possible.”
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady nobody took strike action lightly but rail staff had been left with “no other option”.
He said: “The Government has the power to help end this dispute but rather than working in good faith to find a negotiated settlement, ministers are inflaming tensions and trying to pitch worker against worker.
“Instead of threatening to do a P&O on these workers and rip up their rights, ministers should be getting people around the table to help agree a fair deal.”
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