Customer advice ahead of the latest round of strikes by the train drivers

Customers should check before they travel due to industrial action called by the ASLEF leadership between Monday 29 January to Tuesday 6 February.  

Drivers at train companies will strike for 24 hours on dates between Tuesday 30 January and Monday 5 February (not including Thursday 1st and Sunday 4th February), and there will be an overtime ban on all train companies from Monday 29 January to Tuesday 6 February.  

The strikes will affect services on 17 train companies (listed below). Train companies will operate as many trains as possible throughout the period, but there will be regional variation with strike action affecting parts of the network on specific days. In some places there may be no services at all on strike days, and services that are running will start later and finish much earlier than usual – typically running between 7.30am and 6.30pm.  

The rail industry is working hard to keep trains running but it is likely that services on some lines will be affected on the evening before and morning after each strike between 30 January and 5 February, because many trains will not be in the right depots to start services the following day.   

Special timetables will be available on National Rail Enquiries 8 days prior to each strike.     

A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group said: “There are no winners from these strikes that will unfortunately cause disruption for our customers. We believe rail can have a bright future, but right now taxpayers are contributing an extra £54m a week to keep services running post covid.  

“ASLEF’s leadership need to recognise the financial challenge facing rail. Drivers have been made an offer which would take base salaries to nearly £65,000 for a four-day week before overtime - that is well above the national average and significantly more than many of our customers that have no option to work from home are paid. Instead of staging more damaging industrial action, we call on the ASLEF leadership to work with us to resolve this dispute and deliver a fair deal which both rewards our people, and makes the changes needed to make services more reliable.

“While we are doing all we can to keep trains running, unfortunately there will be reduced services between Monday 29 January to Tuesday 6 February, so our advice is to check before you travel and follow the latest travel information.”  

Ticketing arrangements      

Customers with Advance, Anytime or Off-Peak tickets for travel between Tuesday 30 January and Monday 5 February can instead use their tickets any time between Monday 29th January up until Wednesday 7th February. The policy only applies to tickets purchased before the strikes were announced on 16 January.   

If the Advance ticket is for a train that is scheduled for a strike day, and that service is not cancelled, delayed or rescheduled, but a customer prefers not to travel, they should contact their ticket retailer.      

Customers with two Advance tickets (an outbound and a return), to be used as a return journey, may be able to get a fee-free refund or change of journey for any unused legs/tickets, if one (either) of the legs is scheduled for a strike day. Customers should check with their ticket retailer.      

Customers with season tickets (flexi, monthly or longer), who do not travel, can claim 100% compensation for the strike dates through Delay Repay for the strike dates of the train operator for which they hold their season ticket with. 

Customers can check on the National Rail Enquiries website or their rail operator’s website for further travel advice.