Rail passengers could face weekends of chaos - as they have been urged to avoid travelling on certain days over coming weeks as provider TransPennine Express has announced further strikes are to take place.
On Sunday (March 13) the train operator encouraged passengers to avoid travel as various services were hit by the strikes, as the operator announced it was still facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Throughout Sunday, there was a severe reduction in the number of services, including across the North, Anglo Scottish and South routes, which all make stops at Manchester-based stations.
Services that will remain impacted until further notice include the Edinburgh Waverley to Manchester Airport route, which altered its timetable to offer a service every two hours in each direction. Also affected is Redcar Central to Manchester Airport with a service every hour, Hull to Manchester Piccadilly with a service every hour in each direction and the Cleethorpes/Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly/Airport which will operate hourly in morning and afternoon peaks and then every two hours throughout the rest of the day.
The rail provider also announced that the Scarborough to Manchester Victoria/Liverpool Lime Street hourly services will be replaced with a Scarborough to York hourly service, with additional peak time extensions to and from Leeds.
Full details of the amended timetables due to strikes are available here.
TransPennine Express asked customers to be prepared and plan ahead, also suggesting that they avoid travel on days of strikes and, if possible, the day before and after. The strike action was called by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and resulted in an amended timetable being put in place as services were hit.
However a series of further strikes by conductor members has now been announced, on Sundays throughout the remainder of March and until April 3, as well as the following weekends: 16 and 17 April, 30 April and 1 May and 4 and 5 June, set to cause more disruption for travellers.
Anyone making an essential journey are urged to check up to the last minute via the Transpennine Express website or National Rail Enquiries and expect much busier services, with customers told their tickets can also be accepted on various other services.
An update on the TPE website read: "Customers are advised not to travel on the day of strike action and, where possible, to travel either side of the affected days. Anyone intending to use our trains should check carefully before travelling as services may be subject to short notice cancellations. Customers should also allow extra time for journeys as any services we do operate will be busy."
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