Rail disruption reminder – strike on Saturday 23 July, engineering works on Sunday 24 July

A Greater Anglia train. Credit: Greater Anglia Greater Anglia is reminding people to avoid travelling on its trains this Saturday when 90 per cent of services will not run due to a strike by train drivers’ union ASLEF. The 24-hour strike is followed by major engineering works on Greater Anglia’s routes into London on Sunday – and the train company is warning rail replacement buses could be very busy as more people than usual are expected to travel on Sunday to avoid disruption caused by the strike on Saturday. Timetables are now available on Greater Anglia’s website and app for Saturday – when there is no service at all on some routes and a heavily reduced service on lines into London Liverpool Street. There will be no services between Cambridge/Bishops Stortford and London Liverpool Street or on any regional or branch lines on Saturday 23 July. The following services will run: • Norwich-London Liverpool Street Intercity service, one train an hour, with first and last trains from Norwich at 08.00 and 19.00, and from Liverpool Street at 10.30 and 21.30 • Colchester-London Liverpool Street, one train an hour, with first and last trains from Colchester at 08.13 and 20.13, and from Liverpool Street at 10.00 and 22.00 • Southend Victoria- London Liverpool Street, one train an hour, first and last trains from Southend Victoria at 08.13 and 22.00, and from Liverpool Street at 09.47 and 23.45 • Stansted Express Stansted Airport-London Liverpool Street, one train an hour with first and last trains from Stansted Airport at 05.30 and 00.30, and from Liverpool Street at 04.10 and 23.25 There will be no rail replacement bus service operating instead of any of the trains which are not running on that Saturday because of the strike. Passengers can use tickets bought for a strike day either the day before or the two days after the strike day, or they can change their ticket to a different date or get a refund. On Sunday 24 July, there are major engineering works on all routes into London Liverpool Street, with rail replacement bus services for part of the journey. Greater Anglia is advising customers to expect rail replacement bus services on Sunday 24 July to be very busy with long queues as more people than usual are likely to travel on Sunday as a result of Saturday’s strike. Services will also start later in the morning than usual with some early morning services not running, as a result of the strike. Full timetables for the next weekend will be available in the middle of next week. Unions have announced further national strike dates which will affect Greater Anglia services. Members of the train drivers’ union ASLEF are also due to strike on Saturday 30 July. RMT members, including Network Rail signallers and Greater Anglia conductors, revenue protection and station teams will be taking action on Wednesday 27 July – and the RMT have also announced strikes for Thursday 18 August and Saturday 20 August, unless talks can resolve the issues before then. Greater Anglia members of another rail union, TSSA, have voted for industrial action short of a strike but with no details at this stage of what that action might be or their potential impact on services. Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director said: “We know that the weekend of 23/24 July is really busy – the start of the summer holidays, the Latitude Festival and other events in London. “We are genuinely very sorry for all the inconvenience these strikes will cause our customers, especially on Saturday 23 July when it’s followed by major engineering works the next day, when we anticipate more people might be travelling because they’re unable to make their journeys on Saturday. “Negotiations to try to resolve the pay issue causing the strikes are continuing at an industry level and we hope we can resolve this situation soon.” Commenting on the engineering works, Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: “This work on Sunday 24 July is vital to upgrade the railway to support new, longer trains for West Anglia passengers and to support the next stage of opening of the Elizabeth line programme which will provide better connections across London.” Other train operators in the region, Elizabeth line, c2c, Cross Country, EMR, Great Northern and London Overground, are not affected by strike action on Saturday 23 July, so their services may be a helpful alternative for some journeys. Local bus operators may also be an option for some shorter distance journeys. Information about the strikes, including how to get a refund on all tickets including season tickets is available on the Greater Anglia website. The company is updating its website, app and social media as soon as details of services affected by strikes are finalised.