WEST Midlands Railway (WMR) is urging passengers to plantravels in advance tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday because of strike action by members of the TSSA trade union, writes Kingsley Wynter.
On Friday, there will be a limited timetable in operation and some routes will have no service at all.
Trains will not run after 7pm with the final West Midlands Railway service of the day departing from 5pm.
Tomorrow, there will also be a limited timetable in operation and some routes will have no service. This time, trains will start later than usual with the first WMR service of the day beginning from 7am.
All the routes affected
There are several routes with limited service on Friday and Saturday.
The Cross City Line – Lichfield Trent Valley to Redditch / Bronsgrove via Birmingham New Street will have two trains per hour and there will be one train per hour from Wolverhampton to Walsall via Birmingham New Street and on the line between Rugeley Trent Valley and Birmingham International via Birmingham New Street.
There will be no trains on any other WMR route.
These include all the routes via Birmingham Snow Hill, the Camp Hill Line, Nuneaton to Leamington Spa, Birmingham New Street to Hereford and Birmingham New Street to Shrewsbury.
Disruption is also expected on services on Sunday morning, July 12, because of displacement of trains.
Jonny Wiseman, WMR customer experience director, said: “We are disappointed TSSA has called further unnecessary strike action which is set to cause significant disruption for our customers.
“We are working hard to reach a resolution to this dispute and urge TSSA to coutinue talks.”
He apologised for the inconvenience this would cause WMR customers, adding the operator was doing everything it could to minimise the impact.
“If the strike action does go ahead, we will be running a significantly reduced timetable on both dates.
“Customers are advised to check before they travel by visiting journey planners and our website.”
Visit: wmr.uk/industrialaction for more on the industrial action.
The TSSA said strikes planned for West Midlands Trains (WMT) were over rest day working payments.
It claimed the walkouts were a result of WMT and the Department for Transport repeatedly failing to fulfil their assurance that an improved rest day working agreement – giving TSSA members parity with other unions – would be secured.
This is the second round of strikes in the dispute after similar action was taken in May this year.
TSSA balloted over 100 members across these roles for the relevant industrial action.
