Northern Rail passengers have been issued advice for travelling during the strike-affected festive period.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) announced additional strike dates over Christmas after rejecting a pay offer from Network Rail. Workers will now go on strike from 6pm on December 24 until 7am on December 27, as well as going ahead with planned walkouts on December 13 to 14 and 16 to 17.
As a result of industrial action from the RMT, Northern Rail has advised customers not to travel on its network between December 13 and 17 due to "major disruption across the whole rail network ". Additionally, passengers planning to use the network on the newly-announced strike days have been told to travel by rail only if necessary.
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Those planning to travel have also been told to expect severe disruption and plan ahead, especially if they are using the first and last trains of the day. Northern has also confirmed no trains will run on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.
There will be no rail replacement buses on strike days for Northern services and some stations operated by Northern may be closed or reduce their hours due to the limited staffing and services. The operator has also withdrawn advanced tickets from sale for strike days.
Northern will release details of limited services for strike days soon and timetables will be updated shortly.
Regarding the December strikes, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said it was unfortunate that the union had been “compelled to take this action due to the continuing intransigence of the employers”.
He said: “We remain available for talks in order to resolve these issues but we will not bow to pressure from the employers and the Government to the detriment of our members.”
However, Tim Shoveller, Network Rail’s chief negotiator, said: “This response from the RMT to a significantly enhanced offer exposes their true priority – using the British public and Network Rail workers as pawns in a fight with the Government.
“What use is a referendum that means that strike disruption is inevitable? At best it’s the tactic the RMT played in October by calling the strikes off at the last minute and causing immense disruption to passengers and vital freight routes.
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