Industrial Action

ASLEF, the trade union representing train drivers, has announced strike action on Saturday 3rd February, and an overtime ban between Monday 29th January and Tuesday 6th February.

As a result, there were no West Midlands Railway services on Saturday 3rd February or Sunday 4th February.

Services will be subject to disruption and cancellations during this period. Journey planners have been updated for the duration of the industrial action period, but please continue to check your entire journey before you travel.

Other train operators affected:

  • Tuesday 30th January: Gatwick Express, Great Northern, South Western Railway (including Island Line), Southeastern, Southern and Thameslink.
  • Wednesday 31st January: Northern and TransPennine Express.
  • Friday 2nd February: c2c, Greater Anglia (including Stansted Express) and LNER.
  • Saturday 3rd February: Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway.
  • Monday 5 February: Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, Great Western Railway and Heathrow Express.

Please note: Disruption is not limited to the above dates - train operators may also be impacted by industrial action outside of their ASLEF strike day.

If you purchased a ticket for travel between Tuesday 30th January and Monday 5th February (inclusive), this can instead be used on any day between Monday 29th January and Wednesday 7th February (inclusive). Please note: tickets must have been purchased before 16 January, and London Underground services are excluded.

Please consider your entire journey before you travel and check the first and last train times on each day impacted by industrial action.

Please click here for details of London Northwestern Railway services affected.

Planned daily amendments to services

If you're seeking delay compensation against any of the services listed below, please contact the retailer you brought your ticket from. If you require further assistance in making a claim, please contact us.

Leamington Spa - Nuneaton
No services (full rail replacement)

Birmingham - Hereford (via Worcester)
The following services will not operate:

07:11 Hereford to Birmingham New Street

10:40 Hereford to Birmingham New Street

14:40 Hereford to Birmingham New Street

18:48 Hereford to Birmingham New Street

22:59 Hereford to Worcester Shrub Hill (please note: this is the last service of the day)

05:56 Worcester Shrub Hill to Hereford

08:50 Birmingham New Street to Hereford

12:50 Birmingham New Street to Hereford

16:50 Birmingham New Street to Hereford

21:00 Birmingham New Street to Hereford

Birmingham - Shrewsbury
The following services will not operate:

07:10 Shrewsbury to Birmingham New Street

18:40 Shrewsbury to Birmingham New Street

21:40 Shrewsbury to Birmingham New Street

22:40 Shrewsbury to Birmingham New Street

05:56 Birmingham New Street to Shrewsbury

17:26 Birmingham New Street to Shrewsbury

20:04 Birmingham New Street to Shrewsbury

22:56 Birmingham New Street to Shrewsbury (please note: this is the last service of the day)

Birmingham – Rugeley
The following service will not operate:

23:22 Birmingham New Street to Rugeley (please note: this is the last service of the day)

*Additional cancellations for Tuesday 6th February*

05:12 Worcester Shrubhill - Birmingham Moor St.

14:21 Birmingham Moor St - Worcester Foregate St.

15:50 Birmingham New St - Hereford

16:45 Worcester Foregate St - Birmingham Moor St

16:51 Birmingham Moor St - Stratford Upon Avon

17:39 Hereford - Birmingham Moor St

18:06 Stratford Upon Avon - Birmingham Moor St

19:15 Worcester Foregate St - Stratford Upon Avon

19:46 Birmingham Moor St - Kidderminster

20:54 Kidderminster - Birmingham Moor St

20:58 Hereford - Birmingham New St

22:01 Stratford Upon Avon - Worcester Shrubhill

22:59 Birmingham New St - Worcester Foregate St

00:02 Birmingham New St - Wolverhampton

What are my options if I have a ticket for a strike day?

If your train is cancelled or delayed, and you choose not to travel, tickets can be changed to another date, or they can be returned for a full refund at your point of purchase. No administration fee will be charged. For more information, please visit our Refund & Exchanges policy.

If you have a Season Ticket that is monthly or longer, or have an activated days’ worth of travel on a Flexi Season ticket, and are unable to travel due to timetable disruption on the day that strike action has been called, then you can claim 100% compensation for these days through Delay Repay

If you’re a Weekly season ticket holder and do not travel on a strike day, you will not be able to claim compensation. If you choose to travel but your journey is delayed or disrupted, based on the amended timetable, you are entitled to Delay Repay as normal.

To make sure that a weekly season ticket is the best value for you, check the National’s Rail handy season ticket calculator .

Frequently asked questions

This depends on which union is taking industrial action, and the nature of such action. The majority of our Traincrew are represented by 2 unions – the RMT (Senior Conductors) and ASLEF (Drivers).

In the event of RMT strike action we will provide a limited service using management volunteers and staff who are not partaking in strike action. We will prioritise the delivery of a very limited service on our mainline routes however, our advice to customers is to only travel if your journey is essential and you have no other means of transport available.

We are unable to provide a train service in the event of ASLEF strike action.

The impact of ‘action short of a strike’ mandates vary can depend on a number of scenarios – (more info below).

Action short of a strike means that individuals will work normally, apart from when there are duties that the union is asking its members to refuse to undertake.

In practice this could be an overtime ban or working strictly to rostered hours, only undertaking specific duties noted in a job description. The terms of action short of a strike can differ between unions.

This can result in a lack of resilience to cover absences, or a lack of available staff in the event of disruption or delays that may see staff work above their regular hours.

The result of the above may lead to amended timetables and on the day cancellations, particularly if there is disruption to services.

Temporary timetables will be uploaded into journey planners as soon as possible after industrial action is announced – we’ll let you know via the information at the top of this page when to expect updated timetables so you can plan your journey.

Additionally, we’ll share PDF copies on our timetables page as soon as timings have been confirmed with Network Rail.

During RMT strike days, we rely on a limited resource of contingency Senior Conductors and are limited in the number of services and lines of route we can operate as a result.

During ASLEF strike days, we are unable to run services on any part of our network.

Passenger Assistance provision will be available as usual on services we are able to run and can still be booked with two hours' notice or customers can turn up and go.

However, we are strongly advising customers to only travel if your journey is essential and you have no other means of transport available.

Please note we will not be able to provide Passenger Assistance outside of those routes/services advertised in our Strike-day timetables.

In order to run our usual timetable, trains must be in designated positions at the start and end of each day. The strike action means there will be some disruption to days either side of strike days as trains cannot be moved into their correct positions. This will usually impact on the final services of the evening before any strike action or the morning following strike actions but we encourage customers to check their services on the day via our live information sources on the national rail website / app.

Due to the scale of this national strike action it is not possible to provide rail replacement transport.

If you have purchased a ticket and your train is cancelled or delayed, and you choose not to travel, you can return the unused ticket to your point of purchase for a full refund.

If you hold a season ticket, you will be entitled to Delay Repay compensation if you travel on an affected date.

If you don't make your outbound journey because of the strike, you are entitled to a refund on your outbound and return ticket even if the latter is not affected by a strike. And the same if the return journey was affected by a strike but the outbound was not.

Advance tickets will be withdrawn on strike dates due to the disruption to journeys.

You will be eligible to claim Delay Repay if your journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more against the revised timetable in operation on a strike day. Please keep hold of your ticket and submit your claim within 28 days of travel.

If you’re claiming Delay Repay compensation against a service removed from the timetable due to action short of a strike, you're advised to apply for compensation from the retailer you originally brought your ticket from. If you require further advice on making a claim, please contact us directly .

Claims against other services not highlighted above, including on the day cancellations should be applied through the normal Delay Repay Portal . If you’re having difficulty submitting your claim, please contact us .

In most instances, the majority of other Train Operators are also impacted by industrial action.

Please check the relevant operator website or National Rail Enquiries for information on what services are running