East Midlands Railway (EMR) is warning customers and businesses to expect significant disruption on Saturday 15 August as members of the RMT union take strike action.<\/p>\n
The operator will run a reduced service on its Intercity and Connect routes, with trains operating from 7 am until before 7 pm. Short-notice cancellations and alterations are also possible.<\/p>\n
The disruption will affect some of the region’s key links with London, with EMR planning to run one train per hour between Nottingham and London St Pancras, and between Sheffield and London St Pancras.<\/p>\n
On the EMR Connect route, one train per hour will operate between Corby and London St Pancras.<\/p>\n
Businesses with staff, customers or suppliers travelling across the region are being advised to factor the reduced service into their plans and check journeys before travelling.<\/p>\n
EMR, which is operated by Transport UK, will temporarily make First Class seating available to all passengers on Intercity services during the strike in an effort to maximise capacity.<\/p>\n
Customers who already hold First Class tickets or Season Tickets are being advised to contact EMR’s customer service team about refunds. Those who bought tickets through another retailer should contact the retailer directly.<\/p>\n
The strike is also being accompanied by Action Short of Strike (ASOS), which has been notified from Sunday 9 August to Friday 14 August and again from Sunday 16 August until further notice.<\/p>\n
This means services could continue to face short-notice changes and cancellations outside the main strike day.<\/p>\n
The Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich route will also operate to an amended timetable, with trains not calling at Alfreton, Langley Mill or Ilkeston. Sheffield will also have a significantly reduced service, with passengers able to use Northern replacement buses at no additional cost.<\/p>\n
Philippa Cresswell, customer experience director at East Midlands Railway said: “We’re sorry to customers whose journeys will be affected by this industrial action. We know the disruption this will cause and are advising customers to only travel if their journey is essential on Saturday, 15 August, as we will be operating a significantly reduced timetable starting at 07:00 and finishing before 19:00.<\/p>\n
“To help as many customers as possible during this period, we will temporarily declassify First Class on our Intercity services so that everyone can make use of the full seating capacity available. This is a temporary measure for the duration of the strike timetable only, after which our usual First Class arrangements will resume. We remain fully committed to offering a high-quality experience to those customers travelling with us.<\/p>\n
“EMR continues to engage in constructive discussions with the RMT with a focus on resolving this dispute as quickly as possible.”<\/p>\n
Businesses and passengers planning journeys during the disruption are being encouraged to check departure times, connections and the first and last available services before travelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A sharply reduced timetable will hit key East Midlands routes on Saturday, with businesses and passengers urged to plan ahead<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266702,"featured_media":2096789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47996],"coauthors":[127717],"class_list":["post-2113905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transport","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"\n