Rail travellers heading to and from the North East will be hit with disruption around Christmas and New Year as employees working for 14 major operators and Network Rail are set to stage a series of two-day strikes.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union will strike on December 13, 14, 16 and 17 and on January 3, 4, 6 and 7. In addition, RMT members are set to refuse overtime between December 18 and January 2, which could make staffing trains over the busy Christmas travel period difficult.
The long-running dispute is about pay, jobs and conditions.
Read more: RMT announce new rail strikes for December and January - full list of dates
Four train operators that run trains through Newcastle and other parts of the North East have staff due to take part in the strike: LNER, Northern, CrossCountry and Transpennine.
As Network Rail staff - who have duties like operating signals - are striking, it is likely every train company will be affected. In previous RMT walk-outs Lumo and Grand Central have both cancelled services and the Tyne Wear Metro has been unable to operate between Pelaw, Sunderland and South Hylton.
December 2022 and January 2023 RMT train strike dates
Train staff working for 14 operators are set to strike in a series of two-day walk outs. The December 2022 strike dates are Tuesday December 13, Wednesday December 14, Friday December 16 and Saturday December 17.
The January 2023 strike dates are and on Tuesday January 3, Wednesday January 4, Friday January 6 and Saturday January 7.
Expect timetable disruptions on days between the strikes. Further disruption is likely around Christmas and New Year as between December 18 and January 2 RMT members will refuse to take on any overtime hours.
Which train companies' staff are striking?
In addition to Network Rail staff, the following train operators' employees are due to take part in the RMT strike. The companies in bold operate trains through Newcastle and other parts of the North East.
- Chiltern Railways
- CrossCountry Trains
- Greater Anglia
- LNER
- East Midlands Railway
- c2c
- Great Western Railway
- Northern Trains
- South Eastern
- South Western Railway
- Transpennine Express
- Avanti West Coast
- West Midlands Trains
- GTR (including Gatwick Express
How RMT strikes have affected trains in the North East before
Northern has closed lines entirely before in the North East during RMT strikes, including the Tyne Valley route between Carlise, Hexham, Newcastle, Sunderland and Hartlepool.
Transpennine and CrossCountry, who operate inter-city trains through Newcastle, Durham and Darlington, ran reduced services in earlier strikes, with Transpennine cancelling all to and from Newcastle during the October walk-out.
LNER tends to run to a very diminished timetable between Edinburgh, Newcastle and London when there is an RMT strike.
Lumo and Grand Central staff are not taking part in the strike. However, they have cancelled trains during previous RMT strikes due to Network Rail staff taking part.
During earlier walk-outs, Grand Central has operated no trains from Sunderland.
The strikes will likely close the Metro line between Pelaw and South Hylton - via all Sunderland stations - as Network Rail signalling staff will be taking part and that has previously meant the line can not operate safely during RMT walk-outs this year.
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