The summer of travel discontent continues, with train strikes planned for mid-August aimed at causing maximum disruption.
The industrial action involves different unions on different dates, meaning various UK lines and networks are affected.
Thursday and Saturdays are the days to watch for UK-wide rail travel; meanwhile strikes by two separate unions on Friday are expected to wipe out much of the London transport network.
Here’s every train and Tube staff walkout we know about so far.
Thursday 18 August
Who is striking?
Around 40,000 members of the RMT union who work for Network Rail and 14 train operators. These are:
- Chiltern Railways
- CrossCountry
- Greater Anglia
- LNER
- East Midlands Railway
- c2c
- Great Western Railway
- Northern Trains
- South Eastern
- South Western Railway
- TransPennine Express
- Avanti West Coast
- West Midlands Trains
- GTR (including Gatwick Express)
- London Overground
- Great Western Railway
- Hull Trains
- London Northwestern Railway
The workers participating in the industrial action include a wide range of roles, from cleaners and station staff to signallers and guards.
On top of this, 18 August will see strike action by around 2,500 members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA).
The TSSA strikes affect railway controllers, who will walk out 02:01 on Thursday 18 August to 01:59 on Friday 19 August, causing further disruption on top of the RMT’s widely impactful strike.
Which lines are affected?
The UK rail network will not shut down completely, but most trains will be cancelled across England, Wales and Scotland. The impact is set to be similar to the June rail strikes, which saw around one fifth of train services running, and huge swathes of the country, such as Cornwall and the southwest, largely disconnected.
Different operators are issuing different advice for the strike days: Avanti West Coast is advising that customers avoid all train travel, all Gatwick Express services are cancelled; while C2C, CrossCountry, Chiltern Rail, LNER, Lumo, Merseyrail, Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern will be running a reduced schedule.
As with the June strikes, much of Great Western’s southwest network will be out of action. On the Caledonian Sleeper, all services have been cancelled from Wednesday 17 to Friday 19 August. On Northern, an hourly service will run on the Liverpool to Manchester route, as well as Leeds to York, Ilkley, Skipton, Sheffield and Bradford, from 7.30am to 6pm only, with no other services available.
South Western will run services from Waterloo to Woking, Basingstoke and Southampton, and to Windsor and Eaton Riverside only, from 7.15am to 6.30pm only. Nearly all of Wales’ rail network will be out of action: two “essential travel” routes will run a reduced service between Cardiff Central and Treherbert and Cardiff and Newport.
Passengers with trains operated by the above companies should check the National Rail website the day before and on the day of their journey to ensure their service is still running. Some services late on the evening before (17 August) and earlier services on the mornings after (19 August) the strike will also be disrupted.
Friday 19 August
Who is striking?
On the Friday between these major UK rail strikes, a Tube strike has been planned by members of the RMT union working for the London Underground.
The union says the industrial action has been prompted by “TfL’s refusal to share the details of a draft government proposal they received regarding funding of the transport system in the capital, in secret and without any discussion with their recognised trade unions”.
They will be joined by more than 1,000 TfL and London Underground (LU) workers who are part of the Unite union.
The Unite strikes are expected to cause further disruption to the London Underground, Croydon Tramlink, Victoria coach station, Dial-a-Ride and river services on Friday.
Which lines are affected?
Previous strikes have closed almost all Tube services in the capital, with knock-on effects the following day. Expect to make other arrangements to get around London. The Night Tube will not run on Friday overnight.
TFL says: “TfL expects severe disruption on all London Underground lines on Friday 19 August, with little to no services throughout the day due to RMT’s strike action. There will also be no Night Tube or Night Overground service from Friday evening. Customers are advised to avoid travelling on the Tube and only travel if essential on the rest of the network”.
Heathrow Express will not start services until 7.30am.
Buses are already crowded on Tube strike days, but 19 August will also see more than 1,600 London bus drivers (members of Unite and employed by London United) involved in industrial action. The London bus network is expected to be heavily impacted and buses will be less frequent and more crowded than usual.
Saturday 20 August
Who is striking?
Members of the RMT union who work for Network Rail as well as 14 individual train operators. These are:
- Avanti West Coast
- East Midlands Railway
- Greater Anglia
- GTR (including Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and the Gatwick Express)
- GWR
- LNER
- Northern
- Southeastern
- South Western Railway.
On top of this, 20 August will see strike action by around 2,500 members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA).
The TSSA strikes affect railway controllers, who will walk out from 02:01 on Saturday 20 August to 01:59 on Sunday 21 August, causing further disruption on top of the widely impactful RMT strike.
More than 1,600 London bus drivers - members of Unite, employed by London United - will also walk out on 19 and 20 August, causing delays and further crowding on London buses.
Which lines are affected?
The UK rail network will not shut down completely, but most trains will be cancelled across England, Wales and Scotland. In previous strikes of this scale, the UK has seen around one fifth of services running, making them more crowded than usual.
Many of the same reductions and cancellations will occur as on 18 August. On Great Western, no services will run from Bristol to London Paddington, Cardiff to Bath, Bristol to Glouchester or Bristol to Exeter.
Some services late on the evening before (19 August) and earlier services on the mornings after (21 August) the strike will also be disrupted.
London bus routes will also be impacted, with crowded services and longer waits than usual expected.
Could there be any further transport strikes?
More than 1,400 Arriva bus drivers are currently being balloted for strikes, with the ballot closing on 26 August.
