Greater Anglia strike: Passengers urged not to travel on trains as ASLEF drivers walk out
Passengers are being warned that most of Greater Anglia's trains are not running today because of a strike.
More than 90% of Greater Anglia services have been cancelled after members of the train drivers' union ASLEF walked out for 24 hours in a row over pay.
Music fans heading to the Guns 'N Roses concert at Tottenham Hotspur's stadium or Adele's gig at Hyde Park will not be able to get there and back using Greater Anglia trains.
There will be no regional or branch line trains on Saturday and mainline services will be dramatically reduced.
Sunday services will start later in the morning than usual as the 24-hour strike has a knock-on effect into the next day.
There will be no rail replacement buses to replace trains not running because of the strikes.
Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: "Please avoid travelling on our trains this Saturday. Unfortunately, with our drivers on strike, it's only possible to run a heavily reduced service and only on some routes.
"We are very sorry for the disruption this strike causes our customers.
"We know that many of our customers will have been looking forward to travelling on Saturday to see family and friends, for days out to the coast, for holidays and for the many concerts and sporting events in London.
"Work is continuing at an industry level to try to resolve the dispute as soon as possible."
Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, said: "Many of our members have not had a pay rise since 2019.
"We will fight to maintain the pay, terms & conditions, and the pensions of our members. We are not naïve.
"The train companies are doing very well out of Britain’s railways – with handsome profits, dividends for shareholders, and big salaries for managers – and we are not going to work longer, for less.
"We want a pay rise, for train drivers, who kept people and goods moving during the pandemic, in line with the cost of living, so that we are not, in real terms, worse off."
There will be no Greater Anglia trains between Cambridge North, Cambridge and London Liverpool Street.
The Norwich-London Liverpool Street intercity service will be limited just to six trains in each direction across the whole day, with the last train back to Norwich at 21.30.
The Colchester-London Liverpool Street and Stansted Express services will also have reduced hours and significantly fewer trains, with later start and earlier finish times than normal, with the last train back from London to Colchester at 22.30 and from London to Stansted Airport at 21.55.
Trains between Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street will run across the usual operating hours, but with far fewer trains than normal - just one train an hour - and the last train from London back to Southend at 00.50.
Anyone who has pre-booked tickets to travel on strike days can change them, use them to travel on the day before or up to two days after their original travel date, or apply for a refund by going back to their original retailer.
Services from other train operators in the region including c2c, GTR, Cross Country and EMR are due to run as planned on Saturday.
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