November rail strike date changed and Greater Anglia warns of busy trains

Greater Anglia is warning passengers of disruption caused by rail strikes next month – and advising that rail union RMT has changed one of the dates.

RMT strikes will severely impact Greater Anglia’s services on Saturday, November 5, Monday 7 and Wednesday 9 – but not on Thursday, November 3, as previously announced.

A very limited service will run between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, Colchester, Southend Victoria, Cambridge and on the Stansted Express between London and Stansted Airport, only between the hours from 7.30am until 6.30pm when all trains must have finished their journeys – and with no trains on any other routes.

First services on the day after each strike will also be disrupted – they will start later than usual, from 7.30am – and are expected to be very busy, especially in the morning rush hour. Greater Anglia is advising people to avoid using its trains on strike days, and to check before they travel and expect busy trains on the morning after each strike. Trains not running due to the strike will not be replaced with buses.

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “We’re very sorry that once again people’s travel plans are disrupted by strikes. Unfortunately, we’re only able to run a very limited service on strike days so our advice must be to avoid using our trains on those days impacted by the industrial action.

“We know it affects so many passengers from those trying to get to work, school or college to football fans wanting to cheer on their teams in the first round of the FA Cup, as well as people wanting to enjoy an evening out in London. The rail industry will continue to talk to unions to try to resolve the strikes so we can get back to enjoying travelling by train as normal.” Full information about the strike will be constantly updated at greateranglia.co.uk/strikes.

[Read more: Greater Anglia credits its new trains’ ability to overcome leaf fall problems for its best autumn performance to date]

Passengers who have booked tickets to travel on strike days can get a free refund from the retailer where they bought the ticket, change the date of travel or use the ticket to travel on the day before they were due to travel or up to and including Friday, November 11.