A Greater Anglia train. Credit: Greater Anglia Greater Anglia is warning of further disruption over the coming week as three rail strikes will leave the network with heavily reduced services for two Saturdays in a row and on Wednesday. Members of train drivers’ union ASLEF are striking on Saturday 23 July and Saturday 30 July – and RMT members, including Network Rail signallers and maintenance teams and Greater Anglia station staff, cleaners, conductors and revenue protection teams, are joining a national strike on Wednesday 27 July. Greater Anglia is advising people to avoid travelling on its trains on each of the strike days, when only a fraction of the usual timetable will operate. Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director said: “We are asking people to avoid travelling with us because we are only able to run a heavily reduced service, with fewer trains and so fewer seats available. “These strikes coincide with the Latitude Festival, in Suffolk, the start of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the start of the Football League season with many of our local teams due to play. “We understand how frustrated our customers feel about their travel plans being disrupted, especially when there are so many events going on. “We are very sorry for the inconvenience disruption due to strikes causes our customers. “Negotiations are continuing and we hope an agreement with the unions can be reached soon.” On Saturday 23 July there will be no services between Cambridge/Bishops Stortford and London Liverpool Street or on any regional or branch lines. 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
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. On Saturday 30 July, it is likely a similar timetable will run as on Saturday 23 July. Drivers from Arriva Rail London, GWR, Hull Trains, LNER, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains are also on strike that day. People going to the Lady Gaga concert at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium are strongly advised to make alternative travel arrangements. On Wednesday 27 July, if no agreement is made with the RMT, there is likely to be a very limited service on lines into London Liverpool Street only, with no trains before 7.30am and every journey complete by 6.30pm – meaning most last trains from Liverpool Street will be between 4pm and 5pm. No trains will run on branch or regional lines. Timetables and details of first and last train times will be available on the Greater Anglia website, app and social media as soon as they are finalised. There will be no rail replacement bus service operating instead of any of the trains which are not running because of the strikes. 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. The RMT has announced more national strikes for Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 August. Further information is available on greateranglia.co.uk.