Published on: Friday, 21 October 2022
Last updated: Friday, 21 October 2022
Football fans travelling to see matches in the first round of the FA cup are among those advised by Greater Anglia to avoid rail travel as more rail strikes have been announced.
The RMT union has announced rail strikes for Thursday 3, Saturday 5 and Monday 7 November – and disruption will spill over into the day after each 24-hour strike.
Greater Anglia’s RMT members including conductors, station staff, train cleaners, catering and revenue protection teams, are due to strike on Thursday 3 and Saturday 5 November.
Network Rail RMT members including maintenance teams and signallers are striking on all three days.
London Underground and Overground RMT staff are also on strike on Thursday 3 November.
Greater Anglia services will be severely disrupted for all three days, with no services on any regional and branch lines.
A very limited service will run between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, Colchester, Southend Victoria, Cambridge and on the Stansted Express between London and Stansted Airport – with first trains from 7.30am and all journeys complete by 6.30pm.
On Saturday 5 November, rail replacement buses will replace buses between Ipswich and Colchester due to engineering works.
Trains not running due the strike will not be replaced with buses.
First services on the day after each strike will start later than usual, between 7/7.30am as a knock-on effect of the strike.
Football fans travelling to Arsenal’s Europa League fixture against Zurich on Thursday 3 November at 8pm will have to make alternative arrangements to get to the match.
East Anglian teams playing in the first round of the FA Cup on Saturday 5 November include Colchester United, Needham Market, Ipswich Town, Chelmsford City, Peterborough and Cambridge United. Greater Anglia is advising fans to make alternative travel arrangements to watch the matches.
People travelling to London for plays, shows and other events, including the Kaiser Chiefs on Saturday 5 November and Kendrick Lamar on Monday 7 November, both at the o2 Arena, are also advised to make alternative travel arrangements as last trains back from London will be no later than 5.30pm.
Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “We’re very sorry that once again people’s travel plans are disrupted by strikes.
“Unfortunately, we’re only able to run a very limited service on strike days so our advice must be to avoid using our trains on those days impacted by the industrial action.
“We know it affects so many passengers from those trying to get to work, school or college to football fans wanting to cheer on their teams in the first round of the FA Cup, as well as people wanting to enjoy an evening out in London.
“The rail industry will continue to talk to unions to try to resolve the strikes so we can get back to enjoying travelling by train as normal.”
Full information about the strike will be constantly updated at greateranglia.co.uk/strikes.
Passengers who have booked tickets to travel on strike days can get a free refund from the retailer where they bought the ticket, change the date of travel or use the ticket to travel on the day before they were due to travel or up to and including Wednesday 9 November.
Other train companies also striking on Thursday 3 and Saturday 5 November are Avanti West Coast, c2c, Chiltern Railway, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Govia Thameslink Railway, Great Western Railway, London North Eastern Railway, Northern Trains, Southeastern Trains, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.