Service Alterations Due to Industrial Action 1 December through 9 December

29 November, 2023

Industrial action by members of the ASLEF union will impact rail services across the region from Friday 1 December to Saturday 9 December.

For East Suffolk Lines passengers this means a few cancelled services each of the nine days. However, there will be no service Ipswich – Felixstowe on Sunday 3 December. There will be no service on both routes Ipswich – Lowestoft and Ipswich – Felixstowe on Tuesday 5 December. A full list of all the Greater Anglia routes affected follows.

Action Short of a Strike

On 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 December, a normal timetable will be in place. Most services will operate across the Greater Anglia network including the East Suffolk Lines (both Ipswich – Lowestoft and Ipswich – Felixstowe) but there will be some planned cancellations.

Strike action Tuesday 5 December

On Tuesday 5 December, a full strike will take place. There will be no service on the East Suffolk Lines (both Ipswich – Lowestoft and Ipswich – Felixstowe) or the other regional routes. A heavily reduced train service will operate only on four core routes to London and only on an hourly frequency with the exception of the Stansted Express service, for a limited period.

The routes that will operate Tuesday 5 December

  • Norwich to London
  • Colchester to London
  • Southend Victoria to London
  • Stansted Airport to London (Stansted Express)

Apart from the Stansted Express, services will start much later and will finish earlier than normal. These trains are expected to be exceptionally busy and passengers are advised to plan ahead or consider travelling on alternative dates.

A small number of Cambridge to London Liverpool Street services are also planned to operate, but only approximately every two hours and across a very limited period.

Passengers are advised that Great Northern services will be running between Cambridge and London Kings Cross on Tuesday 5 December as they will be affected by action short of a strike, not a full strike, on that day.

Additional disruption on Sunday 3 December

Action short of a strike on Sunday 3 December will lead to no services at all operating on some Greater Anglia routes including the Felixstowe Line. A number of other routes will also be affected by additional cancellations and/or planned engineering work.

There will be no services on these routes on Sunday 3 December:

  • Ipswich to Felixstowe
  • Manningtree to Harwich
  • Marks Tey to Sudbury
  • Wickford to Southminster

On some routes there may also be a significant number of cancellations.

In addition, there will be limited rail transport options in the Cambridge area, due to a combination of strike action affecting train operator GTR meaning no Great Northern services will be operating, action short of a strike affecting Greater Anglia and Cross Country services and planned engineering work relating to construction of Cambridge South station.

Check Before You Travel

Passengers are strongly advised to check the online and mobile app journey planners before travelling as last-minute service changes are possible. Journey planners will be updated with exact train times three days before each strike date. The latest information is available on the Greater Anglia website.

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia’s managing director, said:

“Unfortunately on the 5 December, no services will run at all on most Greater Anglia routes, with just an hourly service during normal operating hours on the Stansted Airport to London route and an hourly service for limited hours on the Norwich to London, Colchester to London and Southend Victoria to London routes, plus a few services between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street.

“On the days affected by action short of a strike, the vast majority of services will be running as normal, but there will be some alterations and cancellations across our network, especially on Sunday 3 December, when far more services will be affected and far more disruption will take place, along with planned engineering work on some routes.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by these service alterations and advise customers to plan ahead and check before they travel.”

We also strongly advise that passengers check the journey planner before they travel as there may be last-minute changes to the service.

Other Train Operators

Note: Action short of a strike is affecting most UK train operators between 1 and 9 December inclusive. In addition, most operators face one full day strike action during the nine days which could affect your travel plans depending on where you are travelling.

Strike Days Affecting UK Train Operators

Saturday 2 December

  • East Midlands Railway
  • LNER

Sunday 3 December

  • Avanti West Coast
  • Chiltern Railways
  • Great Northern
  • London Northwestern Railway
  • Thameslink
  • West Midlands Railway

Tuesday 5 December

  • c2c
  • Greater Anglia (including Stansted Express)

Wednesday 6 December

  • Gatwick Express
  • South Western Railway (including Island Line)
  • Southeastern
  • Southern

Thursday 7 December

  • CrossCountry
  • Great Western Railway
  • Heathrow Express

Friday 8 December

  • Northern
  • TransPennine Express

INDUSTRIAL ACTION is taking taking place in early May. Mon 6/5, and Wed 7/5 though Sat 11/5 most services will run but there will be some cancellations. On Tuesday 7/5 there will be a full strike; NO services on the East Suffolk Lines or the other local/regional routes will operate that day. Mainline services to/from London will be reduced.
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