Published on: Wednesday, 28 December 2022
Last updated: Wednesday, 28 December 2022
A Greater Anglia train. Credit: Greater Anglia
Passengers are being advised to avoid travelling with Greater Anglia and to check before they do travel, if they do need to make a rail journey, on a series of days affected by strike action next week, from 3 to 7 January inclusive.
Members of the RMT union members, including Greater Anglia’s conductors, train cleaners and station staff and Network Rail’s signallers and maintenance teams are striking on 3, 4, 6 and 7 January. Members of the train drivers’ union ASLEF are striking on 5 January.
Greater Anglia services will be severely disrupted, with the company only able to run a fraction of its services and no services at all running on regional or branch lines. The only services running will be a reduced service for limited hours between Norwich and London Liverpool Street, Colchester and London, Southend Victoria and London, and Stansted Airport and London on all five days - and between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street on 3, 4, 6 and 7 January, but not 5 January.
The company is therefore advising people to avoid travelling on its trains on strike days, as services will be severely disrupted. Services on strike days vary depending on which union is on strike.
On RMT strike days operating hours are restricted to 07.30 to 18.30 due to Network Rail’s signallers also being on strike. On ASLEF strike days, Greater Anglia is unable to run any services from Cambridge to Liverpool Street, with most services that are running operating between 07.30 and 23.30.
The summary of the impact on Greater Anglia services is as follows :
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, 3, 4, 6, 7 January – RMT
No services on regional/branch lines
- Reduced service of one train per hour between Norwich and London Liverpool Street, Colchester and London Liverpool Street, and Cambridge and London Liverpool Street from 07.30, with all last trains completing their journey by 18.30
- Reduced service of two trains per hour between Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street and on the Stansted Express from 07.30, with all last trains completing their journey by 18.30
Thursday 5 January – ASLEF
- No services between Cambridge and Liverpool Street or on regional/branch lines
- Reduced service of one train per hour between Norwich and London Liverpool Street, Colchester and London Liverpool Street, and Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street and on the Stansted Express (between Stansted Airport and Liverpool Street) from 07.30 onwards, finishing later in the evening than on the other four strike days, but earlier than on a normal day
There will be no rail replacement buses to replace trains not running due to the strike.
Services will also start up later than normal on Sunday 8 January.
Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director said: “We are very sorry that once again our customers will be disrupted by strikes. We’re only able to run a fraction of our usual services, so our advice again is to avoid using our trains on strike days. The rail industry is working hard to resolve these disputes and talks will continue with ASLEF and RMT to reach an agreement.”
Anyone who has pre-booked tickets to travel on strike days can change them, use them to travel on either the day before or up to two days later, or apply for a refund by going back to their original retailer.
Passenger assistance will be available as usual for all trains which are running. Anyone requiring assistance who cannot avoid travelling by train on strike days should plan their journey and book assistance in advance if possible.
Strike day timetables are now available for the strikes on 3, 4, 6 and 7 January. Greater Anglia is currently finalising details for the 5 January strike day timetable (as this strike was called more recently, so plans are still being worked on) and will publish them on its website as soon as they are ready, along with first and last train times.
Further information is available from greateranglia.co.uk/strikes and the company’s social media, which will be updated as details are finalised.
Other train companies affected by strikes on all days are Avanti West Coast, c2c, Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, GTR (including Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink), LNER, Northern Trains, Southeastern, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.