How can I visit London on a day of national rail strikes?
Q I am at my wit’s end. I’m really keen to plan some visits to family, and trips to London, to help me cheer me up after what feels like an incredibly long January. But with the seemingly endless rail strikes, I’m finding it impossible to plan. Do you have any advice or insights, or do I just have to keep guessing?
Carol H
A As you know, the next round of national rail strikes gets under way tomorrow. Train drivers belonging to the Aslef union, as well as the few who belong to the RMT union, will walk out from 15 train operators on 1 and 3 February. There will be some trains on three strike-hit operators: LNER, Great Western and Greater Anglia. But the remaining dozen, including Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry, will shut down. ScotRail, Transport for Wales and a few other operators will be unaffected as they are not in dispute. But for the majority of travellers, journeys will not be possible.
Disruption has happened sporadically since midsummer 2022, and has scuppered tens of millions of journeys since then – as well as undermining confidence in the rail industry. Aslef vs the train operators (actually directed by the government) is only one of three disputes; the RMT vs the train operators and vs Network Rail are also continuing. But I predict some good news on two of those fronts: I believe that the RMT disputes will soon end with staff reluctantly accepting the offers from train firms and Network Rail.
That will stabilise the industry a little, but of course the train drivers are entirely free to strike repeatedly in pursuit of their interests. With a salary level significantly above other rail workers (averaging over £60,000 annually), they are more able to cope with the financial loss involved in stopping work. Talks do not appear to be progressing. All you can do at this stage is plan your excursions no more than two weeks in advance – because that is the minimum advance notice of industrial action the union is required to give.
If it helps, the train drivers have tended not to strike on Sundays and Mondays, so you could take a punt on those days. But be warned that on some operators, Sunday services are reliant on staff working overtime and tend to be even less resilient than the rest of the week.
Meanwhile, long-distance coach firms continue to offer excellent services. If you are happy for your journey to take a little longer and perhaps be less comfortable, I recommend National Express, Flixbus and Megabus. But book more than
two weeks ahead – because as soon as rail strike is called, demand and fares surge and seats disappear.
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