Train strike, England

[Formerly known as Seabee]

Does anyone know of a possible strike on the trains in the south of England, for the week of August 9-12?

[tartanexile81]

This is an article from the BBC website and you can read which lines are affected and when

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36987055

Edited August 6, 2016 by tartanexile81

[John Bull]

Yes, I'm afraid the strike on Southern now seems certain to go ahead, 1am Monday til midnight Friday night.

That's only Southern Trains, other operators are unaffected and will accept Southern tickets for their alternate services.

 

The only significant effect on cruisers is those going from Southampton or central London to Gatwick airport.

The direct route from Southampton to Gatwick runs along the south coast before heading north to Gatwick & on to London Victoria & there'll be no services between Southampton & Gatwick on that route. There'll be a service using Waterloo-bound trains as far as Clapham Junction (they're operated by South West Trains & are unaffected), then a limited number of Southern trains from Clapham Junction to Gatwick - tickets issued by Southern will be accepted on that route, but frequency will be poor and trains probably crowded. It's a pretty poor route at the best of times, & I'd be inclined to book a coach with http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx if there's still seats available, or ship's own Gatwick transfers (available most sailings), or a private transfer.

 

The Gatwick Express (to/from central London) won't be operating, there will be limited standard trains to/from Victoria or London Bridge stations, but expect them to be pretty packed.

 

The London Victoria to Southampton route won't be operating, but that's a secondary route from London to Southampton anyway.

 

Importantly, the main route between London Waterloo & Southampton (including Megatrain) isn't affected, nor are most other destinations from Southampton because they're not operated by Southern.

Those using the train between Southampton & Heathrow won't be affected either - that's the South West service from Southampton toward London Waterloo & get off at Woking to switch to the RailAir shuttlebuses.

There will still be some trains from Southampton as far as Portsmouth, because others also operate that route.

 

Latest from the BBC here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36987055

 

And from Southern here:

http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/strike

 

The troubles at Southern have been on-going for some months, and locals in their patch have been getting mighty up-tight about it. Expect heads to roll in the near future

 

JB :)

Edited August 6, 2016 by John Bull

[John Bull]

Latest (sun 7 Aug 2016)

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36987040

 

JB :)

[John Bull]

Southern's rail strike now cancelled from tomorrow (Thursday).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37036579

 

JB :)

[Hatters cruiser]

Just to put a little bit of a dampener on the good news JB has just posted, although this affects different routes they could be important ones.

 

Eurostar staff have announced a series of strikes over this weekend and the next weekend.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37031386

[CruiserBruce]

Just to put a little bit of a dampener on the good news JB has just posted, although this affects different routes they could be important ones.

 

Eurostar staff have announced a series of strikes over this weekend and the next weekend.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37031386

 

Great...we are going from Paris to London on the 14th. It does say service will still operate. I will be checking with our concierge tomorrow. ...

[Cotswold Eagle]

Great...we are going from Paris to London on the 14th. It does say service will still operate. I will be checking with our concierge tomorrow. ...

 

The strikes have been suspended, but Eurostar is sticking with its revised timetable for Sunday (a handful,of services were cancelled), because it had rescheduled all passengers. Best to check with them.

[CruiserBruce]

The strikes have been suspended, but Eurostar is sticking with its revised timetable for Sunday (a handful,of services were cancelled), because it had rescheduled all passengers. Best to check with them.

 

Thanks for the info. We talked to SNCF yesterday...they didn't mention the suspension of the strikes, but they said our Sunday, 11:13 departure was still scheduled, and looking at the website, it appears to be on schedule.

[Cotswold Eagle]

Thanks for the info. We talked to SNCF yesterday...they didn't mention the suspension of the strikes, but they said our Sunday, 11:13 departure was still scheduled, and looking at the website, it appears to be on schedule.

 

I think it was only officially suspended yesterday afternoon, so perhaps after you spoke to them.

 

Enjoy your journey to London :)

[CruiserBruce]

A little slow to get back to this thread. Eurostar was perfect coming over...right on time, nice ride, good operation. Only negative was long line to get through immigration and security before we boarded. Took over 30 minutes. Fortunately we got to Gare during Nord over an hour early.

 

Thanks for the info!