Rail strikes 2022: train passengers warned not to travel during planned Network Rail strike unless necessary

Train passengers have been warned to not use railways during planned industrial action by Network Rail staff.

Staff will be staging a walkout on 21, 23, and 25 June, meaning that thousands of services will be cancelled and lines closed.

The strikes action will also have a know-on effect on non-strike days following the walkout, with only around 60% of services expected to run.

The RMT Union have called the planned strike “the biggest rail strike in modern history”, with more than 40,000 workers expected to take part.

Other train operators, such as Southeastern, TransPennine and Avanti West Coast, have issued a similar warning, urging customers to only travel if necessary, while Northern Trains has told passengers “not to travel” from 21 until 26 June.

What services are affected by the Network Rail strikes?

Network Rail have issued the warning to travellers, stating that half of all lines with be closed, with locations such as Bournemouth, Dorset, Swansea, Holyhead, Chester and Blackpool having no available services running during the planned action.

Services that are planned to run will start at 7:30am and finish at 6:30pm.

There will be no trains available north of Glasgow or Edinburgh, or to Penzence in Cornwall.

Train will run between London and Scotland via Manchester and Birmingham, but the timetable will be affected with some scheduled services on the line.

Lines most expected to be affected by the strikes are rural and district lines

While final timetables are still to be completed, Network Rail has said that it expects to only be carrying around one fifth of its normal scheduled departures from 20 until 26 June.

Days following the strike action will also see distruption due to staff not working overnight to prepare services ahead of time.

The strike action comes at a busy travel time for the British public, with Glastonbury Festival due to take place from 22 until 26 June, as well as a cricket Test match between England and New Zealand taking place in Leeds from 23 until 27 June.

Why are the rail strikes taking place?

The strikes have been called after talks fell through amid a dispute between Network Rail and the RMT Union over pay and redundancies.

Around 40,000 RMT union members from Network Rail are expected to take part in the strike, alongside staff from 13 other train firms across the country.

This includes:

• Chiltern Railways
• Cross Country Trains
• Greater Anglia
• LNER
• East Midlands Railway
• c2c
• Great Western Railway
• Northern Trains
• South Eastern Railway
• South Western Railway
• TransPennine Express
• Avanti West Coast
• West Midlands Trains

The RMT Union has dubbed the industrial action as the “biggest rail strike in modern history”, with staff across the operation - including guards and signalling operators - all walking out at once.

Network Rail have called the strike action “needless”, with chief executive Andrew Haines, saying: “Make no mistake, the level of service we will be able to offer will be significantly compromised and passengers need to take that into account and to plan ahead and only travel if it’s really necessary to do so.”