Rail passengers in Liverpool are being warned about serious disruption to train services, with two separate rounds of strike action to take place across five straight days.
There will be two 48-hour walkouts by Network Rail staff who are members of the RMT union on Tuesday, January 3 and Wednesday, January 4 and again on Friday, January 6 and Saturday, January 7.
During this action there will be just two trains per hour serving Liverpool Lime Street over reduced operating hours. That's compared to an average of 13 trains leaving every hour on a normal weekday.
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Nationally 20% of services will run on just 50% of the network – most branch lines will have no trains at all. Trains will start later from 7.30am with last long distance departures between 3 and 5pm. Lime Street station itself will close entirely by 7pm on strike days and passengers are being warned not to get caught out by the much earlier finish.
Although Merseyrail staff are not taking part in the RMT strike action, only a limited service will be able to run on January 3, 4, 5 and 7 because Network Rail signallers are striking. The operator will run a 45-minute service calling at all stations on selected lines between 7.30am and 6.30pm to help passengers make essential journeys.
There will be no Merseyrail trains operating on the Hunts Cross line between Liverpool Central and Hunts Cross at any point during the planned strike days.
On Thursday January 5 there will be a walk-out of train drivers represented by the ASLEF union across 15 separate rail companies. It will mean no trains at all for the following operators which run services in and out of Liverpool Lime Street (click links for more details).
- Avanti West Coast
- Northern
- TransPennine Express
- West Midlands Railway
- London Northwestern Railway
- East Midlands Railway
Transport for Wales, which is not part of the ASLEF dispute, will run a limited service on that day but is expected to be extremely busy as a result.
Kyla Thomas, Liverpool Lime Street station manager, said: "with five straight days of strikes I’d urge passengers to once again only travel if absolutely necessary with very limited trains running over reduced hours next week. Please check National Rail Enquiries and consider travelling on another day.
"Our station staff will be doing their very best to get people to where they want to go and we’d ask for patience and forbearance as we have seen an alarming rise in verbal abuse directed at staff during these difficult periods.”
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