More strikes on way

TRAIN workers are set for three days of strike action next week – and Huddersfield Railway Station is to close for another full weekend later this month.

The RMT trade union is currently in dispute with Northern operator Arriva Rail North over proposed changes to the future role of the conductor.

Union members will take strike action on January 8, 10 and 12 – Monday, Wednesday and Friday – next week.

And, unconnected to that, Huddersfield Railway Station is to close over the weekend of January 20/21 for further engineering works to take place.

It will affect Huddersfield Town fans travelling to the away game at Stoke City.

No services will run in or out of Huddersfield on January 20/21 as Network Rail is carrying out the final engineering works to upgrade signalling facilities. Replacement buses will operate. The strike action relates to Arriva Rail North plans to remove guards from trains and run driver-only services.

Talks were taking place to avert strike action, and the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT) said they are holding “last-ditch talks aimed at brokering a solution to the guards’ safety dispute with the next phase of three days of action next week starting on Monday.”

Northern aims to run around 1,350 services each day across the north of England, equating to more than 50% of its normal timetable.

A spokesman said: “The majority of trains will run between 7am and 7pm and Northern expects all services to be extremely busy, especially in the morning and evening peak periods. Customers are advised to allow extra time to travel and to plan any journeys carefully.”

Sharon Keith, regional director at Northern, said: “Services across the three days will be busy as many people are returning to work and school after the Christmas break.

“We are doing all we can to keep our customers on the move and are focusing on running as many trains as possible between 7am and 7pm to get people to work and home again.

“Between these hours we will run more than 60% of our normal weekday timetable. We will also have replacement bus services available on some routes where trains aren’t running.

“We ask everyone to take time to plan their journeys carefully, allow extra time for travel and regularly check for service updates on our website.”

Northern say there will be no job cuts, but have committed to introduce Driver Controlled Operation on parts of the Northern network with guards redeployed elsewhere.

Passengers who experience delays of 30 minutes or more can claim compensation through Northern’s Delay Repay scheme.

Those with season tickets that don’t include buses, trams or ferries, who decide not to travel due to strike action, can also claim compensation.

All claims can be made using the Delay Repay process on Northern’s website or by collecting a form at any staffed station.