The RMT union has announced strike action which will affect Network Rail operations from 18:00 on 24 December until 05:59 on 27 December. We strongly advise passengers to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary on 24 and 27 December.
Trains will depart significantly earlier than normal on Christmas Eve and a much later startup is expected on 27 December. Options for customers with tickets dated 24 or 27 December Customers and whose prebooked tickets are affected can find out their options via our website.
While our service is planned to start as normal from early morning on 24 December, services will start to wind down from late morning through to lunchtime, when the last trains will depart ahead of the Network Rail strike action. Trains will depart significantly earlier than normal on Christmas Eve – with the last Avanti West Coast service from Glasgow to London departing as early as 10:40, with the last departure from London Euston expected to be 13:24 (to Stockport).
On 23 December or the morning of 24 December, we recommend customers travel on their booked train as long as it’s running to keep their seat reservation, as trains are expected to be extremely busy. We always try to contact anyone impacted, who has booked with us via our website or app, directly via email but customers should always check before they travel for the latest updates about their journey.
Due to essential engineering and railway improvement work being carried out by Network Rail on 27 and 28 December, our trains won’t be running directly to/from London Euston, as rail replacement buses are in operation between Milton Keynes Central and Rugby.
Two trains an hour will shuttle between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central, where rail replacement buses will then take customers forward to Rugby and connecting trains to Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. Journey times will take longer as a
result.
Additional industrial action is taking place across the rail industry from 18 December to 2 January. We strongly advise passengers to check before travel, as the impact will vary from route to route and entire journeys may be severely disrupted.