Strike action
Strike action travel advice
Last updated 24 April
Strike action by the ASLEF union is due to take place across our network on Tuesday 7 May, and across several other train operators between 7 and 9 May. Please see details below. Check your entire journey if you need to travel during this period.
- Tuesday 7 May – c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern/Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway (SWR) main line/depot drivers and SWR Island line.
- Wednesday 8 May – Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, Cross Country, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway (GWR) and West Midland Trains.
- Thursday 9 May – LNER, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express.
On Tuesday 7 May we will be running a very limited service, similar to what we were able to provide during the last ASLEF strike action in April.
Most of our routes and stations will be closed, so please only travel if absolutely necessary.
There could be queues at stations and the trains that are running may be extremely busy. They will also be starting later and finishing earlier.
Online journey planners are being updated and we will publish the amended timetables here shortly.
ASLEF also announced an overtime ban from Monday 6 to Saturday 11 May. We expect to run our full service during this time, except for Tuesday 7 May, which is the strike day on our network.
If previous strike action has affected your travel plans then visit our strike refund page for more information.
You can keep up-to-date here where we’ll post the latest information, follow us on X, or you can sign up to receive service updates on the planned strike action.
Ticketing
- Customers with Advance, Anytime or Off-Peak tickets for travel between Tuesday 7 and Thursday 9 May can instead use their tickets anytime between Monday 6 and Monday 13 May. This only applies to tickets purchased before the strikes were announced on 22 April. If the ticket is for a journey that includes TfL services such as the London Underground, DLR or the Elizabeth Line, it will not be valid on TfL services on an alternative date.
- You can claim a full refund or change of journey with no admin fee for your unused ticket (other than season ticket), if you decide not to travel because the train you intended to use is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled after you purchased your ticket.
- You can request a fee-free change of journey or cash refund for all ticket types (other than season ticket) if the train was cancelled or delayed or rescheduled from that in the published timetable of the day after you have purchased a ticket.
- If you can't make your outward journey because of strike action, you can have a refund on your outward and return ticket (other than season ticket) even if the latter is not affected by strike action. The same applies if your return journey is affected, but your outward journey is not.
- If you have an Advance ticket for a train that’s on a strike day, you can apply for a full refund with no admin fee. If you have two Advance tickets (an outbound and a return), to be used as a return journey, and either of the legs is on a strike day, you can claim a fee-free refund or change of journey for any unused legs / tickets.
- If you’re a Season ticket holder (Flexi, monthly or longer) you can use Delay Repay to claim a day of travel back if you can’t travel on strike days. For a full day back, you only need to make one claim per day of strike action, making sure to select the reason for delay as 'Industrial Action – did not travel'. For Flexi ticket holders, to receive Delay Repay you must have activated a pass for the day you're claiming.
- Weekly Season ticket holders cannot be compensated for strike dates announced at least two weeks beforehand, but you can claim Delay Repay if your train is delayed or cancelled on the day.
- When trains are running, if you travelled and were delayed for 15 minutes or more, you are entitled to Delay Repay compensation.