Published on: Tuesday, 28 November 2023
Last updated: Tuesday, 28 November 2023
Credit: Greater Anglia
From Friday 1 December to Saturday 9 December inclusive, there will be action short of a strike by members of the ASLEF union.
On 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 December, a normal timetable will be in place, with most services operating on all Greater Anglia routes, but with some planned cancellations.
Strike action on 5 December
On Tuesday 5 December, a full strike by ASLEF members will take place. A heavily reduced train service will operate only on four core routes, on an hourly basis and, with the exception of the Stansted Express service, for a limited period. Those routes are:
- Norwich to London
- Colchester to London
- Southend Victoria to London
- Stansted Airport to London (Stansted Express)
Apart from the Stansted Express, these services will start much later and will finish earlier than normal. We expect these services to be very busy and passengers are advised to plan ahead or consider travelling on alternative dates. A small number of Cambridge to London Liverpool Street services are also planned to operate, but only approximately every two hours and across a very limited period.
There will be no services at all on any other Greater Anglia routes on Tuesday 5 December.
Passengers are advised that Great Northern will be running services between Cambridge and London Kings Cross on 5 December (as they will be affected by action short of a strike, not a full strike, on that day).
Additional disruption on Sunday 3 December
It’s also important to note that on Sunday 3 December action short of a strike will lead to no services at all operating on some Greater Anglia routes and a number of other routes will be affected by additional cancellations and/or planned engineering work.
We will therefore be unable to run any services on the following routes:
- Wickford to Southminster
- Manningtree to Harwich
- Ipswich to Felixstowe
- Marks Tey to Sudbury
On some routes there may also be a significant number of cancellations.
In addition, there will be limited rail transport options in the Cambridge area, due to a combination of strike action affecting GTR (so no Great Northern services will be operating), action short of a strike affecting Greater Anglia and Cross Country services and to planned engineering work (linked to the construction of Cambridge South station).
Further information can be found here, and we strongly advise that passengers check the journey planner before they travel as there may be last-minute changes to the service.
Journey planners will be updated with exact train times three days before each strike date.
Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia’s managing director, said:
“Unfortunately on the 5 December, no services will run at all on most Greater Anglia routes, with just an hourly service during normal operating hours on the Stansted Airport to London route and an hourly service for limited hours on the Norwich to London, Colchester to London and Southend Victoria to London routes, plus a few services between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street.
“On the days affected by action short of a strike, the vast majority of services will be running as normal, but there will be some alterations and cancellations across our network, especially on Sunday 3 December, when far more services will be affected and far more disruption will take place, along with planned engineering work on some routes.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by these service alterations and advise customers to plan ahead and check before they travel.”
We also strongly advise that passengers check the journey planner before they travel as there may be last-minute changes to the service.
A reminder that on 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 December, a normal timetable will be in place, with most services operating on all Greater Anglia routes, but with some planned cancellations.
Please note that action short of a strike is affecting most UK train operators between 1 and 9 December inclusive. In addition, most operators face full strike action on one of those days (see summary of the relevant dates below).