How Northamptonshire train passengers will be affected during week of national railway strikes

Eight days of national railway strikes are approaching, so how will passengers in Northamptonshire be affected?

ASLEF, The Train Drivers’ Union, has announced strikes from December 1 to December 9, affecting 16 train companies, including East Midlands Railway (EMR) and London Northwestern Railway (LNR).

Drivers will be on overtime ban for the entire eight days and drivers at different train companies will strike on separate days.

As a result, passengers at Northampton, Long Buckby, Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough train stations will be affected.

London Northwestern Railway – Northampton and Long Buckby

No trains at all on Sunday December 3.

Alterations to services between Friday December 1 and Saturday December 9.

Certain early trains on Monday December 4 will not run between from Northampton to London and Northampton to Birmingham.

LNR advises people to check before they travel and “consider their entire journey”.

Jonny Wiseman, LNR customer experience director, said: “It is disappointing that industrial action is continuing to affect passengers’ journeys in the lead up to the busy Christmas period.

“Anyone holding a ticket for travel on a strike day can use their ticket on a different day or claim a full refund.”

LNR says the timetable is correct up to Sunday December 3. Update timetables will be released in due course.

East Midlands Railway – Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough

No trains at all on Saturday December 2.

Services expected to be extremely busy on Friday December 1 and Sunday December 3.

Services from Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough to London will not start until 11.41am on Sunday December 3. The first train from London to Wellingborough, Kettering and Corby will be 12.14pm.

Possible alterations to services between Monday December 4 and Saturday December 9 due to the overtime ban. Customers are advised to check before they travel.

Will Rogers, managing director of East Midlands Railway, said: "This industrial action is a new approach from the ASLEF union. It's staggered designed means different parts of the network and different train operating companies are affected at different times. Unfortunately, this will mean customers could be impacted by a complicated period of possible delays and disruption.

"The safety of customers is our number one priority and so passengers should expect crowd control measures in some stations. Customers are strongly advised to check our website to understand how their whole journey is affected before setting off and can expect possible disruption or late notice cancellations."

What ASLEF have said

Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary, said: “We are determined to win this dispute and get a significant pay rise for train drivers who have not had an increase since 2019 while the cost of living, in that time, has soared.

"Our members have spoken and we know what they think. Every time they vote – and they have voted overwhelmingly – for strike action in pursuit of a proper pay rise it is a clear rejection of the offer that was made in April.

“We will continue to take industrial action until the train companies – and/or the government – sits down and negotiates with us in good faith.”