Rail strikes to impact Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas Market and Bonfire Night celebrations

Rail passengers are being urged to plan ahead if they are traveling around the Midlands this weekend.

Strike action by members of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) union and National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) will significantly reduce services to and from cities like Birmingham, Nottingham, and Stoke-on-Trent.

TSSA members will strike on Friday 4 November, while RMT staff will strike on Saturday 5, Monday 7, and Wednesday 9.

The industrial action coincides with the opening of Birmingham's famous Frankfurt Christmas Market which returns to Victoria Square and New Street today (November 3) and Bonfire Night on Saturday.

Crowds of people are expected to attend the festive huts and food stalls as well as Bonfire Night gatherings across the region.

West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway (LNER) say they will run a "very limited timetable will be in operation."

Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry have announced similar reduced services.

Network Rail is urging passengers to only travel if absolutely necessary and is warning people not to get caught out with trains finishing much earlier than normal.

What trains are running this weekend?

On Friday, November 4, West Midlands Railway and LNER won't be running any services earlier than 7:30am or after 7.30pm.

Passengers will need to change Crewe if they plan on traveling between Birmingham and Liverpool - this includes local journeys between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

There will only be one train per hour between Wolverhampton and Birmingham, and one train per hour between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International.

Routes between Birmingham and London Euston require a change at Northampton.

The Cross-City Line between Lichfield Trent Valley and Redditch/Bromsgrove via Birmingham New Street will only see two trains per hour.

No trains will run on any other West Midlands Railway route, including all routes via Birmingham Snow Hill, routes between Birmingham and Shrewsbury, Birmingham to Worcester and Hereford, and Nuneaton to Leamington Spa.

Chiltern Railways will not operate north of Birmingham Moor Street all-day on Friday, and there will be no CrossCountry services on the Cardiff to Birmingham and Nottingham route.

On Saturday, November 5, all train operators at Birmingham New Street station will be impacted by the strike action.

This means a special timetable will be in operation with only nine trains leaving the station per hour.

Trains will run from 7am with the last trains leaving between 3pm and 5pm. All services will end at 6:30pm.

Birmingham New Street station will close completely at 7pm on Saturday.

Avanti West Coast's existing timetable will be reduced significantly and finish earlier on November 5, 6, 7 and 9.

It will run one train per hour from London Euston to Birmingham and no services will be operating from Shrewsbury or Stoke-on-Trent.

Network Rail has warned services that do run will be very busy.

A similar reduced service with trains finishing much earlier will run on Monday, November 7, and Wednesday, November 9.

Jonny Wiseman, from West Midlands Railway, said: "It is disappointing that our passengers’ journeys will again be impacted by industrial action over the next week.

"A very limited timetable will be in operation on strike days and we are urging passengers to only travel if absolutely necessary.

"The action coincides with the opening of the popular Christmas market in Birmingham and I am urging anyone attending to plan their travel carefully as rail services will be extremely limited.”